Gold or Silver?
by Tywien
Summary: Lovely" He purred at me. I swallowed hard and tried not to stare, failing miserably. His gaze locked with mine. "I sure like what I see." Cassie, young girl with hidden powers, leave one vampire clan only to end up in another one. My first, please review
1. Prologue

Prologue

As she laid her head to sleep on the soft pillow she could feel the nightmares taking hold of her. She tried to fight off the sleep, which she had managed to do for hours and hours, but she knew she couldn't escape them anymore; sooner or later they would catch up with her. Tiredness sank around her like a veil. Her whole body relaxed more and more until her consciousness had drifted off into the dream world.

_Silence, darkness, the chill. She knew where she was and yet she had no idea __**where**__ this place was. The chill bit down on her body as treetops blew in the wind. Trees, that's true. She was in a forest, a large dark forest. Then the fear settled in. She wasn't alone, someone moved around in the shadows, watching her, sensing her. She drew in a deep breath to scream, but as usual not a sound made it passed her cold blue lips. Rustles in the wind, someone, or something, was getting closer. She wanted to scream, to run, hide. She knew though that none of it would work. This dream was controlled by them, the creatures. It was their forest, their rules. A pair of shining green eyes appeared out of the shadows. Then she heard them, voices, murmurs coming from all around her. The voices rose in force._

Voices, angry voices entered her dreamlike state and pulled her back to reality. She snapped her eyes open just in time to see a largely built man break down her door and rush in, straight towards her. Her mind was still befuddled from her dreamy state making her slow to react. Luckily Irina rushed in between and pushed her out of the attack point. The silver in Irina's eyes blazed with a strong force she had never seen before. She tumbled off the bed and landed hard on the stone floor. The cold stone gave her shivers down her spine. She looked up only to stare into a pair of furiously golden eyes. By now there were many shadows in her room, among them several guards were holding the stranger back. But they couldn't stop him from staring at her, his eyes filled with hate and…something else, something darker. A different kind of cold shivered through her body. She knew too well what that darkness meant…

Then strong arms were around her, strong safe arms lifted her off the cold floor and carried her out the door as if she was weightless. Coal black strands of hair tickled her chin as she was carried away from the turmoil in her room. She raised a hand to brush the hair away, the soft hair felt like satin against her skin.

She was about to whisper his name, when her saviour pushed them through two heavy doors and continued with long strides down the dwindling stairs. She held tight as they rushed downward.

A soft female voice broke the long silence.

"It's not safe for you here anymore, we must think of another way, somewhere you can hide…" She then realised it wasn't him who had come to save her.

They continued downwards for another couple of minutes until they reached the end of the stairs. Irina kept her in a steady grip as they pushed through several doors. Numerous rooms flashed by as if they were fast forwarding. She was starting to get dizzy, she wanted Irina to stop, but she realised the seriousness of the situation and thus the need to hurry. Something had happened tonight, something out of the ordinary, and not in a good way. Then it dawned on her. Irina said it wasn't safe for her anymore; what had happened? Cold air filled her lungs making her shiver again. She realised they were outdoors by the parking lot. Up ahead there was a black car which was already running, as if waiting for them. "How…"

"No time Hun, no time." The back door was opened and Irina softly put her down in the seat. Those kind blue eyes looked at her then, truly looked at her. No trace of silver in them anymore, which made the girl relax. The midnight blue eyes entered her mind and spoke softly to her; not to worry. Yet they said it with a hint of anxiety in them.

"Don't worry, soon you'll be with us again, everything is going to be okay." Irina's left hand stroke the young girl's cheek as she whispered soothing words. The whisper lulled her into sleep. She could vaguely distinguish a soft thud when the car door closed behind her. Darkness pulled her down and enclosed her as the car sped out of the parking lot, away from the big mansion, away from…her home. She didn't understand what had just happened, why she was going away and whereto… Many questions filled her head, twirling about until they were swallowed by the mist and her mind shut off with a soundless click.


	2. Chapter 1 The waitress

"Hey, new girl. What happened to my order?" An annoyed man hit his large wobbly fist on the bench in front of him making me jump out of my daydreams.

The owner looked at me from the bar with an irritated look. Oh shit, better deal with this customer now. I rushed into the kitchen where I told Cesar to hurry up with the burger and fries.

"Chill girl, hold your horses. I'm doing my best here." We both knew he was lying through his teeth, he smelled of cigarettes and tobacco. I had worked at the diner less than two weeks, but I already knew all about the workers (not so strange I guess since there were only three others than me) and especially about what a lazy chef we had. He was a good friend of the owner's though, so he could do practically anything he wanted to, without losing his job. Us waiters on the other hand knew how easily we could be replaced as Marshall reminded us all the time.

"Please Cesar, I need this job, help me out a little."

A glint lit in his eyes.

"What do I get…"

But then he yelped in pain and put his hand to his dark short curls on the top of his head.

"Stop perverting yourself on the newbie Cesar!" Daisy had come into the kitchen and hit Cesar on the head with a cutting board. It was a name for a timid, soft person, but it couldn't fit worse with the person standing in front of me. A middle aged big woman with muscles enough to scare of the big bad wolf if she wanted to, which she often did. I smiled when I saw her. Deep down I'm sure she's a soft person, but many walls were built around her for protection, from what I did not know.

"The boss is looking for you, and the customer is threatening to sue again." I winced and she squeezed my arm gently.

"Don't worry darling, it'll be ok. Marshall isn't as bad as he seems. If he does or says something you come straight to me, ok?" The fighting spirit lit up in her eyes.

I smiled at her and put my act together.

"I think I can take him on" I winked at her.

"Atta girl".

I caught the finished burger with fries on my way out of the kitchen and smiled appreciatively at Cesar who made a face in return.

In a swift motion I put down the food in front of Mr Grumpy, wished him a bon appetite and walked off to the boss.

Marshall didn't look up at me as I neared him, he merely motioned at me to sit down in front of him. He pulled back his shoulder long hair and continued to wash the bar.

"You wanted to see me" I stated as a matter of fact, knowing this might be the last day for me here.

I sat down waiting for him to let me off, he didn't have to look for any excuses; I had messed up plenty of times during my time at his diner. I would almost be amazed if he didn't let me go… No, this didn't do, I stared at him, forcing him to look up at me. His calm brown eyes met mine. I toughened under his stare repeating like a mantra to myself "he'll let me stay he'll let me stay he'll let me stay".

"Cassandra..."

"Cassie" I reminded him, I wasn't going to make this easy for him.

He sighed, and started again.

"Cassie, I…you probably know what your work here has been like. And I must say I…"

I interrupted him, wanting to defend myself.

"Alright, so it hasn't been the smoothest week, but I'm learning. I promise to you the same mistakes wont happen again, I learn from my mistakes. As for the men, I cant help-"

"I know Cassie, I know. I'm not saying it's your fault, but this diner is for families as well. I can't have men drooling all over you and making inappropriate comments with young children sitting close by, you must know this doesn't work." He seemed to plead with me for understanding.

"My place, this place isn't that kind of…well, place." The awkwardness in his tone was audible.

I could see the annoying customer leaning closer from his table at the back trying to interpret what was going on.

I wanted to argue back, to make a fight over it. I really liked it here, the quietness of the town. It wasn't a big city, but it wasn't like a village either. It was big enough not for people to gossip about everyone…just about some. At first her plan had been to completely blend in. She quickly realised though that would not be possible. She was certainly not self conscious, but she knew she wasn't ordinary. She could feel it in her bones, in her mind, in her blood. It was like this raw energy stored up in her bloodstream, which from time to time rushed through her cells like a drug. Everybody had energy stored in them like this, but none had her energy, her flow. This energy had made it impossible for her to blend in, no matter how she tried. She had moved around so much she hardly remembered where she had been. Would she have to move now again? She focused her gaze on the handsome man in front of her again.

Could she use her energy on him? Make him change his mind…no it would be unwise this early. But maybe…

"Cassie, come on. Some reason here, please." Those pleading eyes again. I sighed.

Then he pulled out a piece of paper from his back pocket. He leaned as if to tell me a secret while he slipped me the note. A phone number was written in a sprawly handwriting.

I took it and put it in my pocket before raising an eyebrow at him, questioning his acts.

"I have to let you go, but you know I'd keep you if I could. So I asked around and got this job for you. It's a new place in town, I think it's a better place for you." He repeated he was sorry and I shrugged my shoulders accepting it. He looked at me one last time, mumbling "Remember; you didn't hear it from me". Then he continued cleaning the bar as if nothing had happened.

I took off my apron and walked into the kitchen to where Daisy was scolding Cesar again. Daisy looked up when she felt my presence, an encouraging smile ready on her lips but I only shook my head in reply.

"He didn't!" Her sturdy body shook with fury.

"I'm going to-"

"No," I said suddenly tired by it all, "Don't". I gave her the apron which she almost refused to take at first.

"He didn't really have a choice" I tried defending him to which she only "hmph-ed" at me.

"Plus, he got me another job." I pulled out my piece of paper. Dialled the number. A brusque man/woman answered the phone.

"Yes, I'm calling about a job" I said with as much confidence as I could muster.


	3. Chapter 2 The Gilded Blood

Chapter 2 The Gilded Blood

I walked out of my apartment with uneasy steps. As usual I checked thrice that I had turned of all the electric things then I double checked that the door was locked before I stepped out on the streets. It was a cold night; the frost was crisp in the air. I took a deep cold breath before I started walking. I had butterflies in my stomach…wait, that sounds too romantic, it more felt like the dinner I'd hardly been able to eat wouldn't stay long in my nervous stomach.

I followed the street till it took a sharp left turn and continued down the next street. Ever since childhood, ever since living with them I knew it wasn't safe to walk outside by yourself, in the dark. Sure, most people knew this, but they hadn't seen what I had seen. They didn't understand the vast importance of that rule. I did. Yet here I was, marching down the dark streets all by myself. I shuttered when I heard that thought "all by myself". I quickened my pace.

When I'd called the number Marshall gave me they had promised to give me a go as a waiter there. I wasn't told much about the place, except where to find it. And the dress code; it sure wasn't a family place I was going to. I didn't like it, but money was money. For some reason people normally weren't too keen on hiring me. I had tried coffee shops, book shops, boutiques, cd-shops, everything. But the longest I got to stay was a week, two weeks at Marshall's place, which had been really nice of him. I sighed; it was something about me which seemed to attract trouble. A bit ironic since I wasn't that kind of person, really. All I ever wanted was to get a decent job, save some money and move again. I wasn't sure what my ultimate goal was; which place I wanted to reach. Getting out of this town for sure, but then…what then? I guess there's no point in worrying, yet.

Man, it's cold. I pulled my coat tighter around me wishing I'd brought my scarf and a hat. Marshall had said it was about 15 minutes walk from his place, which meant little over half an hours walk from where I lived. It shouldn't be long then. I took longer strides. After a while I thought I could distinguish voices. After walking some more I came around a corner of buildings and then I saw it. The building itself didn't look much to the world, but the long queue outside it and the big muscly guards watching the doors gave away the importance and popularity of the place. The red neon sign, which read "The Gilded Blood", hung a bit too low over the entrance, giving the appearance it might fall down any minute. I stopped in my tracks and stared at the scene in front of me. I gulped. I knew I could be tough, living by yourself barely surviving at times had me tougher than most my age, but still. Working at a nightclub; was it really that wise? I took a deep breath in, and let it out. "Relax," I told myself. I'm gonna be fine. Just fine. Go in there and kick some ass now. I forced my feet to keep moving, letting my hips sway slightly more than normally, holding my head high as I walked up to one of the guards.

Before I even neared the place a man whistled to me, catching me off guard. I turned around to see a man get out of the shadows. Tall drop-dead gorgeous he looked at me and smiled.

"Why hello, miss." He whistled again making me blush –which only brought a soft laugh from his lips. His blue eyes twinkled at me. I had always been a sucker for eyes, his were like looking at paradise. They whispered of freedom, trust, and many other, darker, things.

"Are you going in?" He nodded towards the club where the queue seemed to be at a still.

"Yes…seems like it might take awhile though" I wrinkled my nose.

"You're new" he stated then, no question in his voice.

I questioningly raised an eyebrow at him.

"This is a small queue to what it's normally like." He explained, after a little pause he added "it's a bit too early."

This almost made me panic; had I the wrong time? I checked my watch. No, I was to be here 10.30pm, so I was right on time. When I met his intense gaze again his smile told me he knew how much of a rookie I was at this. The man started to irritate me. I was about to say something sarcastic when I realised maybe I shouldn't even be talking to him. He seemed like a dangerous man; long dark hair curling down on his back. His toned body in a tight long black leather coat. He didn't exactly scream out peace and love…

"Like what you see?" His voice was husky. I snapped out of my trance, annoyed by his cockiness I turned around and continued walking towards the queue. I heard his soft laugh as I walked away from him. "Jerk" I mumbled to myself after which he seemed to crack up laughing. Strange, he was several feet away he couldn't possibly have heard…I shook my head and concentrated on my task in front of me.

"Hang on young lady, at the back of the queue please." One of the guards looked suspiciously at me and pointed me towards the long queue to my left.

"I have an appointment with Ms Zarah" I raised my chin and stared him defyingly into the face. He seemed a bit surprised that I didn't step back from him towering over me, though not surprised enough to let me in.

Angry voices were raised behind me; apparently people weren't going to let me waltz in just like that.

"I haven't heard any 'bout rookie coming" he stepped closer to me.

Shit, what was I to do? The only alternative popped into my head, but I really didn't want to… In a swift motion he lifted me up about to dump me away from the queue. I took my chance and focused all my Energy into staring into his eyes. I could almost feel how my eyes turned into their intense green shade. I caught his stare and forced him to hold it. After awhile his hold on me grew softer until he turned us back to the rest and put me down in front of all the waiting people. He motioned me inside, his eyes still dazed by my force. People started getting into hysterics over letting me inside. Luckily that wasn't my problem, so I sneaked in leaving the trouble to the guards. After all they were paid to sort out this kind of…trouble.

There was only a dim light inside so it took a while for my eyes to adjust. The loud music, all the people –dancing, laughing, flirting, it seemed like a regular bar at first glance. Then something hit me. It was far from a normal after-a-long-hard-week-of-work-bar. Seductiveness hung thick in the air along with the smell of something familiar...but I failed to place it. It was a huge place, with a big bar and a big dance floor. I kept looking and noticed there was a floor below where there was a stage. On the stage there were three women dancing. They were incredibly beautiful, with long flowing hair in different colours and slender bodies which moved gracefully and smoothly to the music. Their dancing combined with the music had a hypnotising effect on me, making it almost impossible to tear away my eyes. And their clothes…well, they hardly wore any. I had no idea how to explain it, except there was a lot of skin showing.

Then I felt strong slender arms on my hips, slowly gliding upwards. With that tender movement my body responded as if I was locked in an iron cage. I flinched and spun around.

"Hello darling, care for a dance?" A man with spiked short blond hair stared at me like he wanted to…eat me. My heart froze for a second when I realised what thought had just passed my mind; nonononono. I could feel the force of his dark Energy trying to enclose me. A thought in me wanted me to allow it, almost made me lean into him. He must have seen the display of horror in my face because he looked confused and almost a bit apologetic. Then I noticed his eyes. Sparkling too bright and with too much power to be normal eyes. He was one of them, he had to be. I didn't recognise him, however I knew they were all over the country, the world probably. My mind went blank, I didn't even have the energy to get away from him. I almost leaned in to him, wanting it to be over. Those eyes...they pulled at me, telling me to do things I'd never done.

As suddenly as he had appeared he disappeared from my sight. A woman had come up to us and brusquely pushed him away.

"Jonah what have you done to the poor girl." The slightly older woman snarled at him and gently took me by the arm leading me away.

"I…I…didn't…" The poor man stood still like a question mark.

I hardly noticed what went on around me. The woman took me up a floor (there was yet another floor?) and down a dark corridor. She reached a door at the end, unlocked it and gently pushed me in before closing the door behind us.

She pulled out a chair and eased me into it. We were in a large office. The owner must be rich I thought as I looked around at the stylish and expensive furnishing. She poured me a drink of…whiskey? I sipped at it, welcomed the burning sensation in my throat which managed to put me out of my daze. I stared at her for a long time, taking in her sharp nose and warm brown eyes. When I had studied her long enough I asked her in as steady a voice as I could muster;

"Who are you?"

"Oh dear, forgive my manners. I'm Zarah" she smiled at me.

I sat up straight.

"You're Zarah? I came here to see you, about a job. My name is…"

"Celine." She filled in.

I looked at her, confusion in my eyes.

"No, I'm…"

"Hush, don't say it. Don't ever, ever, mention you're real name in here. From now on your name is Celine." Her face had looked utterly severe as she urged me to promise her never to say my real name around here. She hastened to continue with "Any questions?"

I was about to ask why it was so important, but then I realised what kind of a place I was in, what kind of people, creatures, resided in here, and I understood it was a smart move. Not that they couldn't force it out of me if they really wanted to, but I left that thought out.

"Yes, what kind of job am I to do here?"

"They didn't tell you? You're to serve at the bar, help clean up afterwards and, well, maybe other chores…" she fiddled with some paper avoiding my gaze.

Ri-ight.

"Marshall mentioned the, pull you have on some, people." She winked at me. "If that's true, then you're perfect for this job I tell ya."

Marshall had spoken about me? This made me shift uneasily in my chair. He was a smart man, maybe he had seen things he shouldn't have...

"So" she stood up, interrupting my thoughts "Let's go downstairs and find someone to teach you the ropes around here." Then she looked at my clothes, my jeans and shirt and shook her head.

"Sorry hun, that won't do here." We walked out to the corridor; she swiftly locked the door before turning towards another door, unlocked. We went in. It was like a giant closet inside. I stopped and gawked at all the clothes in front of me. I had never seen so many clothes in one place before, let alone in a store. They all hung in perfect arrangement, dresses to one side, and shirts to another. Zarah saw my amazed expression and giggled. She winked at me and said "The best part of this job" before flinging the clothes back and forth trying to find something. She pulled out several shirts, pants, skirts. None of them were the kind of clothes I'd normally wear, but something told me nothing in this closet was what I'd normally wear. Someone else entered the room through the door behind us, grabbed the clothes from my arms and stared at me. A man, or a woman? No, a man, but he looked very feminine I realised as he gazed up and down my body, trying to figure out what would fit me. Then he handed me a pair of black leather pants, with a strappy red shirt. Too many straps for me to figure it out by myself, but he patiently helped me into it. Then he pulled out my hair from my pony tail and ruffled it up a bit.

"That's better" he nodded at me.

"Thanks George, what would I do without you". Zarah kissed him in the air on the cheek, like the the French do. He shrugged his shoulders, and pulled out a clean man's shirt.

"Jonah managed to get his shirt ripped again."

"He's too hot for some of the women who come here" Zarah winked at me.

George nodded gravely and then left.

I pulled on the pants, jeez they were tight!

Zarah pulled out a pair of killer boots and handed me.

"These should fit you perfectly, I have an eye for this kind of thing" she winked again.

I took them from her grasp and gasped when I noticed the high heel.

"You gotta be kidding me, I'll never be able to walk in these."

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it. Now we must hurry dear. You haven't met him yet."

I didn't like the sound of that, but followed her back down to the bar. She introduced me to workers as we passed them. All were gorgeous men and women, making me wonder what the hell I was doing here, until I got a glimpse of myself in a mirror. I wouldn't have recognised myself. These clothes really brought out...everything, showing curves I had no idea I had. I couldn't help but blush. Zarah noticed and smiled at me.

"A rookie?" The man behind the bar called us over.

"Be nice, Bastian" Zarah said after having introduced us.

"I'm always nice" he flashed us a wide grin. Zarah left me there with my first "tutor". He motioned me forward and started pointing to all kinds of bottles and told me what to do. I fumbled a lot in the beginning, breaking several bottles. Patience didn't seem to be Bastian's virtue. Before long I noticed Bastian's patience was wearing thin. Out of the mist the blond-spike man showed up and ordered a drink I'd never heard of. Bastian sighed and started directing me again.

Jonah smiled tentatively to me, cheering me on.

"Sorry 'bout before", he yelled over the music.

"Not your fault, really." I smiled at him and noticed some men turned around to look at us.

"Maybe I could get that dance later" he winked at me. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Trust me, I'm not the dancing kind."

Several faces around us looked at me with a confused look.

"Really? Well, don't worry about it, you'll learn." He winked and left with the drink I handed him. A slight jolt of electricity passed between our fingers, and then he was gone.

I turned around only to see Bastian with a strange look on his face.

"You don't dance?"

"Well…" I wasn't sure what to say to that. I had always been hopeless with rhythm and especially moving to it. Though it seemed like it was expected of me here. Yippie.

My attention was brought back by Bastian's angry stare. Damn, I needed to get a grip. I had lost several jobs because of my aloofness.

A husky voice called out a drink, I looked towards the sound and I froze as I stared into those amazingly blue eyes.

"Well hello darling. So you work here?"He smiled appreciatively at me. I managed to nod in reply.

"Lovely." He purred at me. I swallowed hard and tried not to stare, failing miserably. His gaze locked with mine and he whispered seductively:

"If I may be so bold; _I _sure do like what _I_ see."


	4. Chapter 3 The Man

_Hello people! If you're out there, reading this story, please review! It's my first story so I would really appreciate to hear what you think ;) Thanks!_

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Chapter 3 The man

He leaned closer keeping his eyes locked with mine. I noticed in the corner of my eye how people seemed to step away from him. Their faces displayed a mixture of fear and awe. Who was he?

I wanted to pull my eyes away but I couldn't. It was physically impossible to shy away from such beauty. Though it wasn't just his more than handsome features which captivated me; this man, no he could be no ordinary man -this greek God radiated an irresistible dark energy... Without being able to stop myself I reached out my hand and sofly touched his left cheek. His white creamy skin was so smooth and cool against my hand. I quickly realised it was a very, very dumb move to make. Not only my mostly spot-on intuition told me so, but also the dead silence in the room kind of gave it away. At some point the loud music had stopped playing. All eyes were on us. More than before I wanted to pull away but my eyes and my body refused to listen to my brain. No instead a part of me was set on making it all worse. My other hand touched his right cheek cupping his face between my hands. I felt an innocent and purely happy smile spread across my lips. Sensing a small part of his Energy radiating into me was like feeling the sun after a dark winter's day. He raised an eyebrow at my bold actions, apparently fighting between anger and curiosity. Fair enough, a tiny sane part of me thought. _I'd_ have been pretty pissed off is some random person started coming on to me the way I did. However my sane part was pushed aside, leaving me to my "new" me.

His lips looked so inviting. Before I realised it myself I leaned in as if to kiss him. My lips hovering close to his, I glanced back into his deep blue eyes. A small sliver of gold quickly flooded through the blue sea in his eyes; calling out to hidden memories. It was as if somebody had thrown a bucket of ice cold water over my head. I finally managed to snap out of my trance-like state. I quickly let go of his face, as if I had burnt my hands and stepped back terrified of what I had almost done.

"I'm so, _so_ sorry, I don't know…why…I-" I stammered avoiding his eyes as I stepped as far back as the bar allowed. People slowly started minding their own business again, as though nothing strange had happened. The music was back on, screaming out from all the speakers. I touched my cheeks, they were warm from all the blushing. Luckily it was so dark in here that nobody would probably notice. Except if you had a very sensitive hearing and couldn't help but hear my heart hammering away in my chest. This was probably the case for some in here.

"How's my drink coming on?" He was still there, I realised. Shit, how embarrassing. And my first day on the job. Zarah would so fire me now, lusting after her customers? And what seemed to be a very important one as well, I cringed inwards. Jeez, what was happening to me?

"Sorry, I forgot what you ordered" I mumbled, still avoiding his eyes.

He laughed softly, sending shivers down my back.

"Too busy thinking about other things, were you? I forgive you" he winked at me, making me look up at him again. The gold in them was there again. It almost triggered my memory; eyes turning silver, or gold, green…but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"A bloody Mary coming up" Sebastian repeated the order and was just handing the stranger his drink.

"No, I change my mind. Now" he looked at me and smiled "now I want it fresh, I want the Special". People around gasped and looked at me, some envious some terrified. I had no idea what was going on.

Sebastian simply nodded, told the man we would deliver his drink later after which the man disappeared.

Sebastian took a deep breath and looked at me. I couldn't read the look in his eyes.

"What happened?" I looked confused at him.

"Don't ever EVER do that again, capish?" He forced me to nod before he yelled out a female's name. A tall blonde girl showed up looking from Bastian to me and then staring intently at me.

"We need your help. You have to go test her." He pointed to me.

The girl, called Annie looked at me. "New girl? Already?" she turned to Bastian. He simply nodded and went on to make drinks. I realised a lot of red ones were ordered. People really liked red wine here, or…they were having their meals here -if you know what I mean.

Annie led me upstairs again, down the other side of the corridor to a door she knocked upon. The door was opened and we stepped in. It looked like a small nurse's office at a school. Sparsely furnished there was a thin stretcher which I was motioned to lay upon. Annie stepped back and let another woman, who was pulling out a needle, step forward. Then I realised, they were going to test my blood.

"No" I screamed and sat up. "Trust me, this is not a good idea-" I tried explaining, to deaf ears it seemed.

Annie, gave me a strange look and forced me down. I started to panic, wriggling as much as her tight hold would allow. This wasn't good, this was _NOT_ good. What should I do? What _could_ I do? If I didn't stop them soon they would realise…my secret would come out. A secret I honestly wasn't on the clear with, myself. I knew I couldn't let that happen. But Annie was much too strong for me. I couldn't do anything but look as the nurse pushed the big syringe into my arm.

I started screaming from the pain. It had been awhile now since the last time I was tested, making the pain feel ten times as bad as it used to. It hurt so much, it always did. Suddenly scenes I had tried to remove from my memory entered my mind. I pictured Irina, the kind old woman, soothing me as they tested my blood. Making sure I was a good donor. Every month the same thing, I never understood why. But here they seemed to do the same thing. Picky creatures.

Bloody hell it hurt. I screamed and screamed, trying to free myself from the strong arms holding me back. Annie and the nurse exchanged a look of shock, probably never having experienced this reaction before. I almost felt embarrassed reacting this much to a little needle. Though it wasn't _just_ a needle to me, and I simply couldn't stop screaming. Then the door flew up and somebody entered, my eyes were teary from the pain making it impossible to see who it was. This person pushed away my captors, and lifted me up. I heard a crash as the syringe fell to the floor and broke spilling out my blood onto the white clean tiles. Through my tear-stricken eyes I managed to see that there actually was no blood. Since they weren't used to me they obviously hadn't used the right cream on my skin first. Puh.

We walked down the corridor reached the stairs and descended three floors. There were several doors on either side of the corridor leading left and right. We walked down to the left and entered a dark room. I was laid down on something soft, a bed I guessed before the lights were turned on and my guess was confirmed. I looked at my arm, it didn't look too bad actually. One could hardly tell anybody had even touched me, except for a massive bruise that was already appearing. But they didn't have any of my blood, yet. I sighed from relied. They were most likely puzzled by the outcome of the test. Piercing my skin with a needle wasn't enough to let the blood out. Irina, the true scientist she was, had made up a salve which managed to go through my skin and make the blood flow easily. I probably should get away from this place before they figured it out as well. Nevertheless, a part of me was almost relieved I had ended up here. I didn't have to hide anymore, to try and blend in.

I dried my eyes and remembered that somebody had helped me get away from the nurse's office. I looked up to find my savior, but no one was there. I was alone. How strange, I thought…

The door flew open and Zarah rushed in with a man behind her.

"Celine, darling! How are you? What happened?" She was like a mother looking after her big and somewhat strange family.

I smiled reassuringly at her, "Im fine. Not so good with needles though."

This made her look confused and a bit regretful. She was just about to say something when the man, who had entered with her, stepped forward.

"I'm sure we can settle it some other way" the husky voice ensnared me once again. I just gaped as he set down on the side of my bed. Third time I saw him within a couple of hours, was this some kind of sign?

"But Lord…" Zarah looked unsure at the man who now caressed my temple.

He lifted a hand to silence her. _He could silence her?_ I thought, being really confused since I had assumed she was the boss of this place.

"Leave us." He stated. Zarah was about to complain but then he simply looked at her. He had his back to me, so I didn't see his eyes but I saw _hers_ and that was enough. She fled out the door and closed it behind her. I tried scooting away from him but there wasn't much space until I hit the wall with my back.

"Scared? Not too long ago you were longing to kiss me" he whispered raising his left eyebrow.

I could feel different emotions rush through my body, but fear was no longer one of them. Except fear of myself, what I might do. I already knew what he was, what he was likely to do. I on the other hand, hardly ever did what I was expected to or thought I would do.

"Not of you" I mumbled then which caused him to throw back his head and laugh.

"I like you, you're" he sniffed "fresh. Just what I need".

Automatically I gave him my hand, palm up. He looked at my hand then my face.

He needn't state his question.

I sighed.

"So you want my blood, but need to try it first. Fine go ahead, get it over with."

He sat there staring at me for a long time.

"I know what you are" I continued explaining.

"Really" he said dryly then.

"And I'm starting to realise you're the master of this place, so I'm sorry I was way out of line before nearly jumping you, it will never happen again. I'm ready for my punishment so go ahead, knock yourself out." I reached out my arm further, practically dangling it under his nose. I started wondering how much it would hurt. I knew some were good at it, making it more pleasurable than painful. Since it was my blood we were talking about, it would probably hurt like hell. Eventhough needles couldn't pierce my skin, fangs combines with some supernatural force usually could. It probably wouldn't pass peacefully though. Maybe this would scare them and make them ignore me...

He kept staring at me. Then he suddenly pushed me back against the wall and stopped inches from my face, staring into my green eyes which I could feel were turning greener by the second. Great, my sane part sighed to myself, here we go.

My eyes urged him to lean in more, to…

He did lean in but only to whisper into my ear.

"So that's how you got ahead of the queue, quite a handy talent I must say." He stroke away strands of hair from my face.

I stared at him, really focusing my Energy into his eyes. I could feel he wasn't likely to fall under me. A power battle went on between us, a battle I was most likely to loose I knew as his eyes turned more and more golden, almost blinding me. Finally I gave up and looked away. Then I felt his cold slender fingers lifting my chin up, forcing my eyes back to his.

"Your wish is my command" He murmured as he let his lips crash onto mine.


	5. Chapter 4 A taste

Chapter 4 A taste

His lips were firm against mine. Feelings I'd never had before spread through out my body, making all my parts tingle with delight. I realised I liked it. I had avoided intimacy at any cost for so long, but it wasn't so bad, even if he was what he was. I relaxed and let my hands curl into his long hair holding his head close, knowing he could easily brush me away if he wanted to.

But he didn't he only smiled and deepened the kiss. Without realising what I was doing I pulled him down on top of me.

"In a rush dear?" he broke away from the kiss to stare at me intently. His eyes mirrored what he saw; taking in the look of a flushed young girl with blazing green eyes. I wanted to pull him back, but I couldn't. He laughed softly at my eagerness.

"I know I have a certain pull with people, but I didn't even have to turn on my charm before you jumped me. Who are you?" He whispered in a seductive voice, a voice which urged me to speak the truth from my heart.

I knew they all had different powers, I wasn't sure what his were yet but they probably were good, seeing as he was the boss and all. I willingly would have told him my real name, even though Zarah had forbidden me to. Shocked I realised I had forgotten it. All names flew out of my head when his gaze was upon me. After a long silence I managed to press out a small "Celine".

He looked at me and shook his head. "No, that's the name Zarah gave you. Who ARE you?" His voice turned slightly sharper making me want to tell him all everything about me. But I couldn't, I mentally couldn't. It was all blocked even from me, always had been. I had no memories of my childhood, of my parents, friends. All I remembered was Irina, Marcus, and of course Angel. How could I forget Angel? What did he use to call me? Mi Angelita…

"Angelica" I whispered then, remembering one name, among the many I'd had.

He suddenly pulled back and stared at me, looking like he recognised the name, but he didn't say anything else.

I still tugged at him to lean in closer which after a while he did.

"If you know what I am, then you should avoid me at all costs, shouldn't you?" He looked hungry, dangerously hungry. But I realised that for the first time it didn't bother me. I had an insane hunger for him as well.

"I should, I agreed, but I've never been good at doing what's best for me."

"You might be a problem in the future" he whispered hovering over my lips.

"Most likely" I replied before raising up to claim his lips. He let me take a strong hold of him. After a while he gently broke the kiss and continued kissing my chin, cheek, my neck. There he lingered with his mouth, while his hands smoothly stroke my thighs and slowly climbed upwards. I felt as if my blood would burst through the skin where he was kissing me. I realised what was about to happen but before I had time to protest he lowered his mouth closer to my neck and bit down. I screamed, at first it was a reaction sure of the pain that would come. Strangely enough I realised there was no pain. No, it actually felt _good_. Still, a part of me wanted him to stop, knowing I should want him to stop, but at the same time I urged him to continue. He drank deeply from me. I could feel my life force slowly sipping away. When my hands dropped from his hair he jerked away from me with a haunted look in his eyes. The eyes looked plain blue now, the gold had disappeared from them.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…I was just going to taste you, not…" his eyes looked upset and a bit scared. He was scared of himself, of what he had almost done.

I lay motionless on the bed, smiling at him. This was the first time I had ever _wanted_ to share my blood with someone. I would have given it all to him. Nobody else, but to him. I wanted to lift my hand to stroke his cheek, but I couldn't. He seemed to know what I wanted and laid his cheek in my hand.

"I didn't exactly try to push you away either" I whispered, not liking the hurt look in his eyes.

"I'm the stronger one, I'm supposed to be able to resist you. But as soon as the first drop of your blood entered my mouth, I knew I couldn't break away. I've never tasted anything so delicious... " It sounded like a cliché to me, yet he _did_ look very lost and confused for a moment.

Then he got his old self back and smiled wickedly at me again.

"I hope you didn't come here with plans of leaving soon, because I can tell you now that wont happen any time soon, if ever." He crawled closer to me.

"Your mine now, mine."

I gulped at the way he said those words. What had I done?


	6. Chapter 5 Heat

Chapter 5

Then it hit me with full force; he had no problem accessing my blood! Damn it!

I knew the effects my blood seemed to have on them. I had seen other vampires getting almost narcotic effects from a little taste of my blood. One of the perks of being Angel's protégé; I was safe. Angel had been like a father to me, thus he never drank straight from me, which would almost have been like incest, in a way. That's where the needles come in, and the special salve. My blood seemed to keep him and all others energized a longer time than if they drank "normal" blood. They didn't need as much either. Rarely had I been bitten, but it had always been supervised by Angel. He didn't trust his coven not to forget themselves while sampling something sweet. I had never been bitten on the neck though. Angel had explained it was a bit more intimate, more pleasurable for both parties apparently, but it was for grownups, -which I didn't mind. It was way too intimate for me. I forced my head up to look at the man in front of me, eyeing him suspiciously. True his eyes seemed to burn with a different glow now. However I didn't know him well enough though to understand what this glow meant. I was good at reading people (or well, creatures) by looking into their eyes. But his were still an enigma to me.

He smiled then. Had I said anything out loud? I wanted to sit up, but I realised I still couldn't.

"Jeez, you took a lot." I managed to sound annoyed although I knew I had almost made him lose control.

"You didn't seem to mind at the time." He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Well, In case you didn't notice, I wasn't exactly myself." I hissed at him.

His gaze never moved from me, which started to make me feel uneasy.

I didn't like when people stared at me, silently. It's not like I can read minds.

His smile spread.

"What?!" Man he was annoying me.

"You sure are interesting, Angelita."

This made me stare furiously at him.

"What did you say? Where the hell did you get that from?"

"Hey calm down, what happened with wanting to tell me everything?" He teased me.

"You-" I forced myself up from the bed, wanting to get away from this insane man. To think that I had wanted him…I shuddered, I must truly be sick. When my feet touched the floor I stood up too quickly. The blood rushed down to my toes and I was about to fall onto the floor when strong arms caught me and easily whisked me into the bed again.

He was grinning now, grinning must be worse than smiling.

"I wouldn't move for a day if I were you. As we've already established I drank a bit too much…"

"A bit" I snorted. He ignored me.

"…so you should let your body make up for the blood loss. Take it easy."

I didn't really understand why but I felt so annoyed. I wanted to hit him, scream at him, wouldn't get me anywhere though. Jeez, usually I was very even tempered.

I saw at the corner of my eye how he leaned in closer to me, stopping mere inches away from my face. His eyes commanded mine to join his, but I didn't want to. I was tired of these games. I tried to move my head away from him, he wouldn't have that.

"Cassie" he whispered then.

My eyes widened in shock. I was pretty sure I had never told him _that_. Then how could he possibly know...

"A pretty name" his lips hovered over mine. Once again all my strength evaporated as he was this close to me. I could feel the Energy building up inside me, knowing the green that would blaze out from my eyes.

He was so close, my blood flowing in his veins made the energy he sent towards me darker and more seductive. It was as if it called out to the blood in my body. I could never refuse him anything, I knew with a pang of sadness.

His eyes caressed my face. He looked so serene, so honest in liking me. Was it just my blood he desired?

"_No Cassie, it's you I want"_. Butterflies started flying in my stomach, the happy bubble burst when I realised neither of us had spoken out loud. Then realisation dawned on me.

If he thought he had seen me angry before, boy was he in for a surprise. Reading my mind, MY mind? How dared he! I opened my mouth ready to scream at him, my eyes greener than ever, when he let his lips crash down upon mine. Taken aback I went completely still while he fervently kissed me. I wanted to hold on to the angry and extremely pissed-off feeling I had. I tried to get away from him, from his satin lips, but it was useless. Before I realised it I was kissing him back with the same intensity. My hands entwined in his silky hair, wanting him closer.

When he realised I was almost out of breath, he broke the kiss, lingering still too close. I breathed heavily irritated by the hold he seemed to have over him. Wasn't it supposed to be the other way around? Usually was after sampling my blood…

"You can read my mind?" I gasped as I drew in deep breaths, trying to get back to the point.

He smiled wickedly at me.

"So it would seem."

"What does that mean?" I eyed him warily.

"Normally I can. I guess that's one of my gifts." He put emphasis on the last word, and I realised that must be one of the thoughts he had heard.

"With you…it's like you're a part of me. It's not that I'm reading your mind it's more that you are sending out your thoughts to me. It comes as natural as thinking myself. It's like our minds are linked together."

"Though some parts are a mystery…" he continued looking puzzled.

His words terrified me; he could hear my every thought! This made him smile. Oh stop it.

Basically all I had to do was stop sending out my thoughts. Great, piece of cake I thought ironically.

I had to get my mind blank -I knew I could do this. If only I could get some concentration… Obviously he heard this and leaned in close again. As his eyes turned golden my thoughts turned incoherent. All I could think was kiss me, which he clearly heard. Softer this time his lips met mine. I couldn't stand his carefulness, teasing me. I wanted more. His hands were on my hips rising upward. Okay, maybe not _that_ much more. My thought made him smile. But before I got reminded of his cockiness he deepened the kiss. His hand reached my shoulders, and started descending again. His hand reached the swell of my breasts there he paused for a while. Forcing me to think what I wanted before he complied. As his hand cupped my breast I felt as if he'd lit my whole body on fire. I couldn't control my reactions. Before either of us knew it I had whisked us around, leaving me on top.

The surprised look on his face made my day.

"Didn't see that one coming did you?" I winked at him. The loss of blood didn't seem to stop my movements this time, no I felt completely awake and aware of myself and my surroundings.

"Enough talking" he mumbled, and I silently agreed. The electricity between us was enough to burst a flame. Hands went everywhere.

We were kissing deeply, his hands inside my shirt mine on their way down inside his pants when the door crashed open. Neither of us pulled back, until the intruder spoke up.

"Jeez, get a room" A woman sounded disgusted. A man's voice countered with

"Well, technically they already have…"


	7. Chapter 6 The Intruders

_**A/N: Thanks for the reviews, it's great knowing somebody else is reading and commenting! It makes it all more worthwhile!  
If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! As it is my first story I'm aware it might be very confusing, so I'd be happy to help clearing stuff up for you! Well, Enjoy and please please keep reviewing!! :D**_

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Chapter 6 The intruders

I didn't want to stop. I was so far from my common sense that I didn't care what happened around us. But he seemed to be of a different accord, thankfully. He pushed me down next to him, still holding me close, when he answered the intruders.

"Sam, Mina, what are you doing here, in my _private_ chamber if I may remind you."

His voice sent cold shivers down my back. I sure was glad I wasn't the one to have annoyed him.

"We heard there was a new girl, and that they didn't manage to test her blood. We figured we'd come down and see how she was" Sam grinned at me. I followed his gaze and realised I looked somewhat indecent. The strappy shirt had almost come of showing a lot of bra. I tried straightening it out, but it only made it worse, to Sam's delight.

"As you can see she's okay, now leave us." He snarled at them.

"She looks more than okay" Sam winked at me, openly displaying his interest.

Mina looked jealously at me. It took me a couple of seconds to realise why. Then it hit me, and I felt soo stupid. Great, he had a girlfriend. My thought made him lock eyes with me, _No I don't_.

"Leave us" he emphasised. Sam winked at me again then quickly exited the room, leaving the woman behind. A true immortal beauty, though her eyes didn't seem pure nor did the fake smile across her lips. I took an instant dislike to her, to the Energy she radiated which was anything but beautiful.  
Mina stood her ground, not wanting to throw in the towel just yet. I eyed her suspiciously while wondering what she was planning.  
She put on a seductive smile and waltzed up real close to him. She was just about to lean in and kiss him when anger flared through my mind. It was like my reptil brain took over and instincts decided my actions. I snarled and pushed her away. I wasn't really sure what had made me react this way, surely I wasn't jealous…right?! I had never been jealous in my life, so I guess I wouldn't be the one to know. A combination of my actions and my confused thoughts made him smile.

"Sorry Mina, you're not wanted here. As you can see, my hands are quite full." He sounded bored as he dismissed her. I almost felt sorry for her then, seeing her sad appearance. She put on an iron mask, and said in a sweet voice

"Well you know where to find me when you get bored." With those words she left us. I felt awkward, clinging to him as if he was my life. I forced my fingers to let go and scooted away from him.

"You would think I'd have some privacy in my own rooms…" he mumbled to himself. He shook away his thoughts and looked at me hungrily again, eager to continue where we left off.

I knew this wouldn't work for me though, this wasn't who I was. I couldn't be happy only being someones girl for a day or maybe two.  
I just shook my head and held up a hand between us.

"Hang on. I need to clear this up. I'm nobodies whore, I _never_sleep with strangers and I'm not up for one night stands, so you might as well go back to that other girl." The more I thought about it the more I realised I wasn't ready for this kind of life, hopefully I never would be. I knew for sure that I wasn't going to turn into one of his many girls. No way sirree.

He raised an eyebrow and gazed at me in a confused way.

"Whoever said you would be somebody's whore?"

"Well I've seen enough vampires in action. All you do is drink, fight and sleep around. I'm sorry but I don't do that." I finally managed to put my feet on the ground and stand up without feeling too dizzy. He reached out a hand for me to hold on to but I just shook my head. I didn't need him, -this I kept telling myself over and over again inside my head.

"You can give me a call when you believe in monogamy" I said as I exited the room. I could feel his eyes burn my back when I walked away from him. Every step I took, every step leading me further away from him, was a major burst of effort. I wanted nothing else but to turn back and snuggle up close to him. Somehow he was a part of me now, and it felt almost like chopping of an arm when leavng him. Okay maybe not an arm, perhaps just a finger.  
However I'm not some weak minded girl. Not usually anyhow…

As soon as I'd managed to close the door behind me I had to lean my back to it while taking some deep breaths. What had almost happened in there? Clearly I couldn't count on myself to be strong anymore, that I'd learnt. going from not being interested in intimacy with anyone to basically jumping his bones...something was seriously wrong with me. It must have to do with the blood I gave him. Maybe we had some kind of blood bond between us now. Or our chemistry just clicked, who knows. It seemed like a lifetime ago I had entered this place. A lot had happened in a couple of hours…

Shit, my job! All the excitement had made me completely forget what I was doing here. I had to find Zarah and tell her… Wait, what should I tell her? I cuddled up with the boss so it was improper for me to stay here? Something told me nobody here would even raise an eyebrow at that. Though it didn't feel right for me to stay here now…I felt like a slut. I had given him my blood, freely, and from the neck of all places! I suddenly felt cold in my thin shirt.  
What was done was done, no point in crying over it. I pushed away from the door and started walking the direction we'd come from. I wasn't really sure where I should go, but if I found my way back to the bar then probably I'd run into some familiar face.

The corridor seemed rather dark and long as I walked alone. I almost wished he'd been there with me…almost. I wasn't _that_ desperate. I finally reached the stairs and started to ascend them. I could hear the distant beat from the music, which was a good sign that I was getting closer. I reached the floor I had started in and looked around. It sure was dark in here, darker than I'd have preferred. I knew it was for their benefit; not only did they enjoy the darkness but they also knew how lost their prey, aka us humans, were in the dark. I turned towards the bar where I could see Bastian talking to some vampires. Apart from looking gorgeous, which by the way everybody -human or creature, did in here, I didn't really understand what made me so certain about them being vampires. I couldn't see their eyes from where I was standing. Somehow I just knew it, I could sense it. A lot had changed after he bit me, although I wasn't certain this was all due to that. So many questions I needed to ask.  
My eyes met Bastian's, interrupting my thoughts. Bastian was staring at me like he'd seen a ghost. The others followed his gaze and stared as well. I really hate when people stare.

I walked up to them and turned to Bastian.

"Sorry, I've been neglecting work. What can I do to help?"

Bastian kept staring. I snapped my fingers in front of his face, which seemed to wake him.

"Are you ok?" I asked him.

"Am _I _ok? You're the one who-" The concerned look which had briefly crossed his face turned into his cold usual façade.

He turned into the grumpy man I'd seen before. Finally something was like it used to be, I sighed from relief.

"About time you showed up, there aren't many hours left. You can walk up to the tables and recollect some glasses, fill them up if needed." He gave me a tray and turned back to sweeping the bar.

"So, like a waiter?" He ignored my question, which I took as a yes.

I picked up the tray and looked around. As I stood there in the dim lights I noticed how quickly my eyes got used to the lack of light. I could see several small tables further back in the room. I presumed these where the tables he'd meant and walked over there. Some had just left there glasses so I started picking those up. Soon my tray was full so I returned to the bar emptied it and walked back again. I was juggling some glasses when I felt somebody looking at me. I turned towards the stare and saw two piercing golden eyes glare at me. It was a beautiful woman who looked at me with a deadly stare. Long thin legs to kill for and wavy voluptuous waste-long hair. It took me a couple of seconds to recognise her. Her eyes shone filled with contempt and anger. I took an involuntary step back which made her smile contentedly.

I remembered a lesson I'd learned; one should never show fear, and squared my shoulders.

"Slave" she greeted me.

Whoa hang on…

"Trust me; that's all you are. Or maybe a toy…yes, probably a toy as well. A nice little doll to play with." Malice was written allover her face.

"Hello to you to Mina" I rolled my eyes at the woman in front of me oozing out jealousy.

She snarled, annoyed that her childishness didn't bother me.

"Are you finished with your drink?" I asked her politely, wanting to get away from her. She seemed to like HIM way too much for it to be healthy.

At first she pulled away her drink from my grasp, but then she seemed to come to think of something and gave it to me while she smiled sweetly at me. She was up to something alright...

"No, another one please. Oh, while you're heading that direction, have you noticed what a nice view they must have up there. And such a romantic atmosphere." My gaze followed her direction towards the big hollow in the room where one could glance down at the stage or up at a balcony level which seemed reserved for the VIP. I looked but didn't see anything special at first. Some fancy vampires having a good time with a "willing" donor for the night. I wondered how willing they were… Then I saw what she obviously had intended for me to see. There was a man surrounded by beautiful women and men. They were laughing and really enjoying themselves. The man turned so I could see his profile and I drew in a deep breath. I would recognise those eyes and black curls anywhere.

"Your lover-boy seems to be having fun with those _gorgeous_ girls. I must say, they look like models!" Mina was clearly enjoying the reaction she got from me.

A woman put a hand on his thigh and he smiled. I could feel the radiating Energy from his smile all the way across the room.

I didn't even realise why it bothered me seeing him like that, it shouldn't; I hardly new the guy. And one couldn't really expect any less from a vampire. Yet I could feel a pang at my heart, like somebody had twisted a dagger in there and turned it around.  
Above all, I had told him I wasn't interested. I knew this was probably what he was like, which was why I'd been smart to get away from him before I'd been seriously stuck. Maybe I'd been too late...

I wasn't sure how long I had been staring at him, but long enough for him to feel my gaze and turn towards me. I reacted a second too late. He saw (what can only be described as ) a hurt look in my eyes before I flinched and accidentally dropped Mina's glass on the floor. It shattered into a thousand pieces. From the corner of my eye I saw Bastian look disapprovingly at me. I quickly bent down to pick up the pieces I could and put them on the tray. I felt something wet on my cheek. I brushed it off and realised it was a tear. How embarrassing! To shed a tear over such an insignificant thing, -such a man. I dried my eyes angrily. Angry at myself for reacting this way, angry at Mina for wanting to hurt me, angry at him for affecting me so.

A man hunched down next to me and started helping me. I mimed thank-you to him, to which he smiled and shrugged. His smile reminded me of…

"Sam, I'm Sam." He said and gave me his hand.

"C---Celine. You're one of the-" I shook his hand.

"Intruders" he interrupted me. A blush started on my cheeks, which he chivalrously ignored.

"You have to be careful, with glass. We don't want you to prick your finger here of all places.."

As Murphy's law states; if anything can go to hell -it will. I felt a small sting and realised I'd managed to cut my finger on one of the glass pieces.

"Shit" I mumbled and looked at my finger.


	8. Chapter 7 A drop of blood

**A/N: **_Sorry it's taken a while to update. I have a feeling this chapter might be a bit confusing..hopefully not too so, though questions are always welcome. And I love reviews! hint hint^^_

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Chapter 7 A drop of blood

It had been a really sharp piece, even cutting through my skin. Or maybe my body was still confused from the blood loss earlier.

I held my finger with my other hand, for a second oblivious of the people –or more importantly the creatures- around me. Had I looked up I would have seen HIM tense in his seat, turn towards us, sniff the air and watch as a possessive look took over his features. Or I would have noticed the music stopped playing, again. Or how there was suddenly a crowd around us, with several golden eyes gazing upon us. As it was I thought of nothing else but how clumsy I was and about that bloody Murphy-guy who always had to be right...

Sam brought me out of my trance. He took my finger gently in his hand.

"I told you to be cautious" he mumbled staring at my finger as if enchanted by it. Even _his_ eyes were gold.

"Let me help you" he continued and lifted my finger closer towards his mouth. Stupefied I stared at him. What the heck was he thinking? Oh no!

"NO thank you" I hissed and slapped him soundly in the face, my blazing emeralds meeting his shining golden eyes.

I thought I heard somebody mumble "My, the kitten has claws..." Which annoyed me even more.

Sam still held my hand with an iron fist as his eyes seemed to calm down. People around us gasped, shocked that he hadn't tasted me yet. How could a mere mortal stop one of them. My coolness started wearing off as I could almost hear them licking their lips. I never liked being the center of attention, especially not when it came to food -and me being _it_.  
Sam noticed my insecurity and was about to take the chance.

Faster than my eye could comprehend another hand shot in between us and gripped Sam's hand, pushing him away.

"I think the girl said 'No' Sam". I'd recognise that voice anywhere. I couldn't help but sigh from relief. The lesser of two evils had saved me, again.

He pulled me towards him and scooted me up in his arms. I wanted to fight him, I still saw him smiling at the other girls at the back of my mind which affected me more than I would ever confess to anyone, let alone myself.  
_Not now darling, not now._ I silently agreed to his thought, though promising myself I wouldn't forget about it.  
As he stood up I realised most people around us had hunched down as well, getting closer to the smell. It was kind of freaky to be held above them almost like some kind of sacrificial lamb..

"Let me make myself clear. This one" he pointed at me "belongs to me. ME." His voice was loud and terrifying, making me momentarily forget the 'this' and 'belonging' part. Which I would most certainly throw a fit about later. My my, I was running quite a long list of things to shout about.

"You haven't really marked her yet have you"  
Somebody spoke up who I didn't recognise, neither voice nor appearance. He was extremely handsome though (a cliché, I know), definitely would have remembered him. He was the opposite of my saviour. He had shorter blond hair, straight but thick. It looked silky smooth. But his eyes held a darkness to them I didn't feel comfortable about. The blackest black they stared at me, without giving away any emotion whatsoever. Freaky...I shuddered.

My saviour gripped me tighter, shot an eyebrow at the blond man and said

"So, you're back."

"In the flesh. No welcome back hug?" The newcomer spread out his hands playing astonished.

"Like you were expecting that, Thor."

They seemed to stare each other down. Watching them continue the staring contest for a couple of minutes made me realise this could go on for ages.

"Sorry to interrupt the happy reunion but do you mind having this conversion some place else? Or at least get me out of here?" I hissed at them. "I wouldn't say this is the safest spot for me right now."

They both turned their gaze upon me, momentarily having forgotten about everything except their argument.

"There's nothing to discuss." He turned around, still with me in his arms to descend the stairs yet again.

"Oh but there is. Quite a lot actually." The blond man, clearly named after the god of thunder from the Nordic mythology, grinned wickedly at me. I didn't like the way he looked at me, not one bit.

I felt the protective arms around me squeeze me tighter while he kept walking us away.

"Face it, we have to talk. And you can't be around her all the time, so might as well bring her along, telling her what she's gotten herself into."

"No, Thor, leave her out of this." He had stopped now, but didn't turn us around.

"You know I can't. Hang on, I guess I could, but, well I wont." His voice held a bitter undertone to it. "You owe me."

"Fine, we'll talk later. She needs rest now." Without waiting for the blond man's approval we descended the stairs once more, and reached another room, next door to the previous one I'd been in. I was gently laid down upon the soft duvet covers.

His face displayed several emotions. Anger, sadness, frustration, relief… Suddenly I felt sorry for him, wanted to smooth away the problems he had. All the previous anger I'd held towards him, my decision to never be around him again, seemed to have flown out the window. A part of me hated this hold he seemed to have over me. Yet there was a small part which kind of, frankly, enjoyed it. Needless to say this part was the winning one at the moment.  
I let my hand gently stroke his forehead. He closed his eyes and seemed to calm down.

"How do you do that?" He whispered in a hoarse voice.

I looked confused at him.

"How do you control my emotions so?" He continued.

He opened his eyes which were his usual deep blue. The sea I could easily drown in. I smiled at him, happy that I could make his problems disappear, if only for a while. He looked away then, fiddling with my fingers in his. (The part of me which was still furious and annoyed with him made gagging sounds at the whole lovey-dovey situation.)

"I realise you said you didn't want to be around me. But I'm not the way you think I am. I don't have...well, I shouldn't lie, I have been quite the Vamp during my years, but I had grown tired of it. And -this will sound so cheesy but bear with me- seeing you, tasting you...now I dont' want anyone else."

I was silent, shocked to hear all those words coming out of him. Like a fairytale, hearing what I wanted him to say...hang on, was I awake? Secretly I pinched myself. Ouch! yeah, apparently awake...  
He still didn't look at me, although he must have heard all my confusing thoughts.

"Don't bother about Mina, or anyone else for the matter. She's just a silly spoiled girl who likes to make everybody suffer if she doesn't get her way." He paused a brief second before he continued. "Seeing that tear in your eye, to know that I was the one to cause it..." The silence that followed was immense. I didn't know what to say, or if I should say anything. Maybe this was his open-up-his-heart-moment.

"I couldn't stand sharing you." He explained in a silent murmur, I wasn't really sure if he was talking to me or to himself.

"I don't want anyone else to touch you, or taste you." I could hear the anger building up in his voice.

Then he met my gaze again and I could feel my eyes flare to life. I leaned forward and gently laid my lips upon his. He relaxed against me and closed his eyes for a brief second. I was about to pull back when his eyes burst open, the gold shining out of them. He grasped my body and pulled me in really close. The colour of his eyes insanely bright.

"Great, just when I thought you were remotely normal" I said to him, my eyes turning greener by the second, answering to his gold.

"Normal? Never! How boring that would be…" Then he roughly claimed my lips. I definitely could get used to this...

As my eyes stared into his I let my mind wander. The new guys face kept rising towards the surface of my mind. Wandering who he was, what they'd been talking about.

HE groaned and pushed away from me.

"Do you have to think about _him_?" He said frustrated putting his feet on the floor and pushing himself off the bed.

"It's not like you have to read my mind" I pointed out coolly, a bit hurt at the implied accusation. It wasn't like I was drooling over the guy, can't a girl be curious?  
He just stared at me like I was stupid. Man I must learn to control my thoughts.

"Why does he always appear and ruin everything?" He mumbled the last part to himself while pacing the room.

"I don't understand, who is he? How do you know each other?" I sat up following his erratic pacing.

"That's a long story darling." He said with a hint of irony.

"I've got time."

"Well, where to begin? Oh, here's a good opening he killed my sister."

"You have a sister?" I said puzzled wondering if he meant a real sister, human sister, or someone with the same vampire siring them.

"Had, not after he killed her obviously." His tone drenched with venom. "First he seduced her, then he had her over for drinks."

He looked at me as if expecting a strong reaction, I just shook my head not understanding where the dying-part came in.

"She supplied the drinks." I shook my head again, I still didn't get his point.

"Or more accurately, she supplied his drink. A nice juicy red one."

I was about to shake my head again, when I felt my blood freeze. Did he mean…? No!

"Yes" he replied to my thoughts. "She was the drink."

My jaw fell down, oh my god!

"No wonder you don't like him."

"Don't like him?! I HATE him!" Fear entered my mind as I saw his body shake with fury. The soft moment we'd had before almost made me forget he was after all a trained killer who could snap at any moment. He turned his eyes towards me and after a few seconds the gold slowly disappeared leaving hurt blue pools.  
A trained killer yet so vulnerable.

I patted the bed next to me, and after a moments hesitation he sank down next to me, putting his head on my lap. He closed his eyes while I gently caressed his hair, his forehead, his cheek.  
He looked so peaceful lying there. It was strange how right this felt. I had never felt so at ease with someone before.  
To think I'd only known him for a day and we were already acting like an old married couple... I brusquely pushed him away from me and stood up.

"Oh no, I'm not falling for this. Are you using your Energy now? Lulling me into this safety feeling around you? Well I'm not falling for it! Jeez, stop messing with my mind." I'd planned to get away from him, leave the room as fast as possible. It turns out that I only made it off the bed before a wall of frustrated Energy hit me in the back. Involuntarily I turned around towards him. He was standing in the middle of the room, tall and erect like a statue. His cold Energy which evaporated from His anger chilled the room by several degrees, making my teeth chatter from the cold.

I had no idea what I should do. He didn't say anything, he didn't even look at me. But he was angry alright, furious at what I'd said. Why was he angry? When he was the one toying with me? I let my anger slash out at him, in one powerful Energy flow. Suprised he took a step back, finally turning his eyes towards me. They were so golden they almost looked yellow. Fine, bring it on, let's see what you can do.  
My thought brought out a smile in him, which only infuriated me more.

I closed my eyes, focusing my energy before releasing it. Practice makes perfect was a fitting saying; the more I trained my Energy the easier it was to control. Suddenly I felt another energy, equally strong to his, entering the room. I slowly turned towards him, ready to shoot out at the intruder. Then it all happened so fast. I slowly opened my eyes, neon green light shooting out of them. I saw blond short hair before I was knocked down on the floor. A body pinned me to the floor. I tried struggling; with my Energy building up I felt like I was on top of the world. I could almost feel the atoms in my assaulter's body vibrating as if waiting my command to disintegrate. Along with this immense sense of power there was a dark cloud spreading in my mind. Clearly not the top of the world...

"Cassie! Snap out of it" Slowly I assmebled my the muddle of my thoughts. I turned my head towards the speaker and stopped kicking about.  
Blue. The ocean, clouds, sky, heaven... him. Out of the blue I realised I still didn't know his name.

"Sky" I murmured as I reached up and kissed his lips. I didn't have time to grasp his reaction before darkness enclosed me.


	9. Chapter 8 The quarrel

_A/N: Hello again ;) Sorry bout the confusion I've created, if it's any consolation I'm confused myself at times. I wanted to get around having to name Him, because I couldn't find a suiting name (btw; I'm open for suggestions :D) So in last chapter I finally decided to let Cassie give him a nickname, Sky. So just so everybody is clear on that; the only guy Cassie's been interested in this series (at least so far, who knows what the future will tell?!) is him, Sky. Any other questions, hit me! Thanks again for reading and roses for the reviewers ;) Sorry bout the slow update, I have a lot going right know with University etc...gotta sort it all out. I'll try and be faster...no promises though. Your reviews light up my day ;) (I'll stop blabbering now and let you get on with the story)_

**Chapter 8****: The Quarrel**

Dark, cold. I felt somebody looking at me. Suddenly a pair of silver eyes fixated on me came into my vision. Silver. Years had passed but I knew he would never give up. The potential he had seen in me, in my Energy, he wouldn't miss out on it for the world. He, -Angel…

"Cassie? Cassie! Come on baby, wake up."

The darkness slowly gave way to reality and I felt my eyes were closed, explaining the darkness. I forced them open and was almost shocked to see how close he was sitting to me, his blue eyes mere inches away.

"Sky" I mumbled touching his cheek.

"What do you mean?" He looked confused at me, most likely wondering about my sanity. If he looked inside my mind he wouldn't get any wiser. My thoughts were a big mess.

"It's as good as any name" I explained faintly while trying to sit up.

"I repeat what do you mean?"

Would you look at that?! I'm gonna lose count of all the times I pass out and wake up lying down.

"Well, I still don't know your name, and I can't very well refer to you as he with a big H, it's already brought enough confusion as there is, so I figured I might as well give you a name. Sky just popped out of nowhere."

"Sky?" He didn't sound thrilled about it.

"What?"

"Well, you couldn't have picked a…cooler name?"

"Sky is cool" I defended.

"It just makes me sound so…mellow" he grimaced. "Not really a Master-Vampire ring to it."

"Suit yourself for not telling me your name." Real mature I stuck out my tongue at him.

A soft cough startled me.

"Sorry to interrupt the lovey-dovey moment."

Thor! What the heck was he doing here? _Take it easy, he's here on friendly terms, as friendly as they can be._ Sky's blue eyes calmed my outburst.

Sky sat up and reached out a hand to pull me up; I hadn't even realised we were on the floor. It did explain the soreness in my body though; what happened to chivalry and catching a lady when she was swooning? _Actually not so much swooning as crashing d-._ Okay that's enough, I thought roughily to him, no sassy comments thank you. I could feel a killer headache coming on. I had used way too much Energy in one night, and now I would pay for it.

Standing up my legs felt wobbly under my weight. Sky held me up around the waist.

"Couldn't you at least have made me collapse on the bed?" I murmured annoyed by all the painful bruises over my body.

"This one's got a dirty mind" Thor's eyes glistened with a menacing burgundy colour when he looked at me. "I'd hold onto her if I were you".

"You-" I took a step forward ready to fight back when my legs collapsed. Sky easily caught me and straightened me up again.

_Not now_, Sky shot me a look.

I didn't like to admit it but this might be the time to listen to advice. Why did I get so angry, when I knew Sky was the one he really meant to hurt…? _Not now!_ He snarled at me.

"No counter attack? I'm disappointed. Has he such a strong hold of you already?" Thor's teasing eyes stared into mine.

I ground my teeth, refused to let him get what he wanted.

Thor sniffed the air.

"You have so much control over her from only tasting her, what, once? You are stronger than I remember you, old fox."

"Hmph, I could easily control from one sampling- Ouch!"

I jammed my elbow hard against Sky's ribs. Probably didn't really hurt him at all, yet I managed to surprise him which was a victory in itself. bragging about "tasting" me wasn't my cup of tea when it came to topics, funny that.

"That's beside the point, why are you here Thor?" Sky hurriedly changed subject.

"You need to learn to control her. I could feel her Energy leaking out of this room sending jolts to anything and anyone it touched. She's a bomb ready to explode any minute."

They kept talking over my head as if I wasn't there. Me a bomb? Jeez, the only thing the arrogant man did was to insult me.

I was still too weak though to use my Energy. Mustering up as much power as I could, I managed to make my eyes glow with a greener intensity as I stared into Thor's red eyes.

"We need to tame her, and we need to talk in private before you're girlfriend decides to use up her last bit of life force to try and fry me alive." Thor looked at me and then at Sky.

They stood still for a while, staring at each other silently.

Did this mean that Thor could read minds as well? I sucked in my breath and stared questioningly at them.

Sky shot a glance at me, explaining with his mind; _He sees only what you allow him to see._

Great, that clarifies everything, I grimaced at his back.

I realised there was no point to argue at this moment, and the head ache combined with exhaustion made up my mind to go look for a bed. I swear to god I could feel Sky smiling. Not _his_ bed obviously, my own bed.

I didn't want any bullshit argument about me _belonging_ to him now or anything along those lines. I realised I desperately needed to get him out of my mind. I closed my eyes, closing my mind along with them. After a few breaths I felt I was ready and slowly opened my eyes again. My mind remained closed, except for the thought _sleep_ which was on loop.

"Good night _gentlemen_" I said sourly and left them to their discussion. Sky had turned towards me with a confused look on his face. I kept my steady pace and closed the door behind me.  
Once again out in the corridor, where to now? I needed to find Zarah, or anybody who could explain the many doors and more importantly which one was okay for me to use. Simply picking a bed for tonight might turn into a living hell. Literally. Living with Angel and his Silver Clan I'd learned my lesson never to stray into foreign rooms, especially not when they are inhabited by vampires.

I neared the staircase once more taking slow steps in order to remain upright and in one piece. What were the odds that they would have any pain killers here? Guess it wouldn't help them much.

Holding onto the rail along the stairs I felt completely disoriented, where was I? Should I climb the stairs or descend? I could feel my head spinning from exhaustion, and the pulsating pain didn't exactly help. Climb, I was pretty sure. I started climbing, one foot at a time.

When I reached the floor upstairs I realised the place must have closed. The screaming music had stopped and the dance floor was eerily empty compared to what seemed like moments ago. The only sounds came from what seemed to be the clean up crew. My first day at work and I'd been, what? Working half an hour tops? Great start.

I recognised voices coming from the bar area and inched closer.

"Hey girl, what's up? Whoa, sweetie, you don't look too good, what you been up to?" I squinted at the speaker, a man in thrashed clothes which were ripped apart by "keen" customers no doubt. I was fishing in my memory, trying to figure out who he was. Then it hit me, Jonah with his spikey blonde hair, the dancer.

"Well not much, just sort of draining my Energy". I could tell by the way he and his friends exchanged looks that they must be thinking Sky did this.

"I just need to rest, to sleep." I swayed and Jonah caught my arm, his muscles flexing in his arm. Having him up close I took the time to really look into his face, his eyes. True, he was beautiful beyond words, most of them were. He had an innocent aura about him though which I didn't quite understand. I could easily tell why women and men went crazy about him, but I felt nothing. Except maybe, hopefully, a friendship coming on in this strange new place.

"Alright honey, I'll take you to you're room." He nodded later to his friends and still attached to my arm he gently tugged me towards the stairs.

"Not the bloody stairs again" I mumbled to myself. "Is there no elevator? You should invest in one…" I forced my legs to keep up the pace, barely succeeding.

"Come, let me help." He slowly lifted me up while looking me in the face. He seemed to look for disapproval, but I was too tired to bother. Though he had given me time to object, for which I had to give him a brownie point, it was my own fault if I was too weak. I let my head slump against his shoulder.

"Honey, which one is your room?" He whispered into my ear.

"Don't- have- one-" I forced out the words.

"Oh, that's alright. I'll ask Zarah and put you in a spare one for now. Just relax."

I know he talked soothingly with me about a lot of things. He mentioned the Energy wave they'd felt, wondering where it came from. Too tired to be part of a discussion I simply listened as I drifted further into coma land.

Note to myself: never use up too much Energy in one night. And more importantly –like Thor had pointed out, I needed to learn control. To be in power of my outbursts and its magnitude.

I barely noticed a door opening in front of us, Jonah gently laying me down and tucking me in. As soon as my head hit the pillow, my mind went dark.

In my dream I snuggled up to Him, to Sky. It felt so perfect, so meant to be. But then he turned around and it was Thor's face, Thor's smirking eyes staring into mine. I tried pushing away, uselessly. His cold hand grasped my shoulder and dragged me closer. His fangs bared I knew what he wanted. So I did what anyone in my situation would do; I screamed.

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	10. Chapter 9 The Shower

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A/N: _Long time no see ;) Sorry bout the slow update, i just realised I dont really know towards what this story is running..open for suggestions! I'd psoted another chapter as this one, but realised (with help from reviewer) that I was messing around too much, so gotta slow down. A massive hug to the ones who've written a review! I'll comment at the bottom ;) So please keep reviewing! :D_

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Chapter 9: **The Shower**

The following day started out quite well I'd say. After waking up I could feel my body filled with new Energy and I was ready for some action. The strange dream was pushed away and I was determined upon looking forwards. I decided to find a shower. It felt like days since I'd last showered. Honestly, I've lost complete track of time since stepping through the doors to this place. It's time I got a grip on myself. The room I'd collapsed in was a normal sized bedroom. A big bed took up most of the space. It was a dark wood canopy bed, with beautifully carved details. It was most likely an old artefact which made it seem like a crime having slept in it. Though what's the point of a bed if one cannot use it? Apart from the bed there was a little bedside table in matching wood and a small lamp on top. Wonder how much bedside reading they did…

Inside the room there was another door, inquisitively I opened it. Utter darkness confronted me. My left hand wandered along the door-frame until I found the light switch, thus letting the room bask in light. It turned out to be a closet as big as the bedroom in my apartment. I walked in and softly touched the clothes filling the space. Having seen many movies I knew how many shopaholics there were out there. I myself had never seen the point in having a room filled with clothes, until now. The fabrics ran smoothly through my fingers, there were all kinds of colours, shapes and sizes. When I looked more closely on the contents I realised the clothes came from different time periods. There were medieval styled dresses next to late 19th century dresses. Anything extraordinary or beautiful one's mind could conjure up and it was sure to be found in here. I realised I could remain in here for hours which reminded me of my goal; to find a shower. I made a mental note of this closet for future references as I closed the door again. Once out in the hallway I followed my gut feeling. Normally my sense of direction should have rendered me lost at a place such as this one. However my mind managed to connect to the feelings I'd had when I'd last walked here and thus I managed to trace my way back. Sounds a bit weird I know, but each to their own. Finally I stood outside the door I'd searched for, so I knocked and waited.

"Good morning darling! Did you sleep well? You poor thing! You've only worked a day here and we're already bossing you around! I hope Master didn't push you around too much, he can be rather brusque…"

A soft blush tainted my cheeks, suddenly reminded of earlier scenes, which had been just as much my fault as his though.

"No, he wasn't so bad. Anyhow, I was wondering if there's a shower somewhere which I could use? I've completely lost track of time here but it seems like ages since I showered."

Zarah looked at me questioningly.

"But of course sweetie. I'm not sure now's the best time though, the boys are about to wake up and-" she stopped mid-sentence and the look on her face turned attentive. She nodded, flushed and was back to normal, smiling. What an odd woman…

"Come with me, I'll show you."

"Thanks, can I borrow a towel as well? Maybe even some clothes?" The word clothes lit up her eyes and she looked at me as if she'd finally found a doll she could dress up.

"Bathrobe and towel first, when you shower I can find you the clothes meantime."

Walking down the corridor we made a left turn and ended up in front of an elevator.

"So you do have elevators here?" Zarah looked puzzled at me and motioned me to follow her inside. There were no buttons, nothing to indicate how far we went. The doors simply closed about us and opened a few seconds later revealing a different floor. Down another corridor we went and stopped in front of a dark brown door.

"This shower you may use today" she looked around us as if to make sure nobody was close then she whispered to me "I suggest you hurry". She turned on the lights and stepped in with me. She showed me the towels, bath robes and shower gel then she stepped out and closed the door behind her.

A lovely lady yet a bit strange, like the rest in here I gather.

I looked around in the well lit room. The room was so beautiful built that it seemed taken straight out of a catalogue. It was a huge room with several cubicles with showers. The opposite wall held five large mirrors showing off all the bodies' faults. Everything looked so shiningly cleaned. What a big cleaning company they must hire for this place! I picked out a shower gel which smelled of pine apple and passion fruit, so yummy I wouldn't mind eating it, luckily I resisted the urge. With the gel, a sponge and bathrobe I walked towards a cubicle and stepped in.

The hot water flowing down my skin felt truly blissful. I sighed and closed my eyes. Memories flooded my sight; old –from when I'd been a kid, growing up around vampires…maybe not the best place to race a kid, and new –all the people I'd met here and above all Sky.

I thought I heard some noise, a door opening, but then nothing else. Peculiar, yet the solitary bliss was gone. I turned of the water and stepped into the bathrobe. I'd forgotten to take out a towel for my hair so I gathered up my clothes and stepped out, into what one could believe was a commercial. The room was filled with men, in their 20s maybe even 30s. I stopped and gazed around in chock. How could I not have heard them laughing and talking? I shook my head, closed my eyes, counted to ten and opened them, unfortunately there was no change in scenery. I recognised a voice, Jonah was here? As if I'd said his name out loud he turned around towards me and smiled. That's when I realised they were all stark naked. My cheeks burned and my eyes roamed for the exit, where was the bloody door? Way too much skin to see, enough to last a life time or more. Jonah walked towards me grinning.

"Fancy running into you here."

"I-I-I- Zarah showed me the way, I had no idea- I just wanted a shower…" shocked I stuttered and tried to look anywhere but _there_.

He could taste my insecurity and embarrassment in the air yet he didn't think of helping out.

"Zarah? Strange, she knows…" he stopped looked at me and laughed. He looked at his friends who also cracked up laughing.

Finally anger started building up in me, the pink-blushed cheeks turned a furious red. I gave him a cold stare.

"What's so funny?"

"_He_ must have told her to, sometimes his mind works in mysterious ways." Jonah dried away his tears from laughing. I must point out that none of the men had tried to shield themselves or anything of the kind; arrogant bastards.

"Who?" Though I guessed the answer straight away; who had the power to order people around in this place?

Thinking of the devil he stepped in through the door. I felt his presence though furiously refused to turn towards him, not until he was right behind me and addressed me.

"Cassandra? What are you doing in here?" I could hear the subdued laughter in his voice. I took a deep breath repeating a mantra in order to calm down.

"If you'd wanted a private show honey all you had to do was ask." That's it, to hell with the mantra! I spun around shooting arrows with my blazing eyes into his calm blue smiling ones. Smiling? The bastard was smiling!

"You…."

"Yes?"

"You arrogant jerk!"

His eyes twinkling, happy that he was getting the response he'd meant for. A trap I had a hard time not falling into, too late. I'd never been good at hiding my feelings, especially not when it felt like they were going to explode within me.

Then I realised his chest was naked and…I gulped, most likely the rest.

I could hear a laughter building up in his throat. I focused on his chin refused to let my eyes wander over his body, _that_ satisfaction I would not hand him. His firm chest, most likely he had a six-pack as well, and… no! Not further down dammit! I needed safe ground. His chin, I could stare at his chin. I had no interest in seeing _it_ either. Liar, liar… he clearly couldn't bare it anymore and laughed out loud. That's when I turned pale and remembered; he just read me like an open book. This thought made him laugh even harder. How could I get out of this with a little dignity? I felt sweat brake out at the nape of my neck. On the verge of panicking thoughts ran around in my head, trying to figure out what to do now, what to say. Then it dawned on me; if it's what he wanted anyways, what harm in taking a look at the view?

"Fine" I stared into his eyes with a raised eyebrow, and then demonstratively let my eyes wander downwards.

"Not bad, but, I've seen bigger." I stared into his eyes again and left before I'd lose coherent thinking. I slammed the door shut behind me and the laughter inside erupted again. He knew he'd gotten my interest, my previous acting had already shown that but now it was as clear as a blue sky. Didn't mean I'd give in to it. No, I raised my chin high walked off with my clothes tightly held in my arms. I found consolation in knowing that he was clearly affected by me as well, though I'd rather not have fount it out the way I just did.

It was about time to find Zarah, and afterwards I really needed to learn how to control my thoughts.

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_**A/N: Dark Angel Fall: **Thanks for the review, made me realise a big part of the story is still only in my head and it hasn't appeared in written form yet, so no wonder it caused confusion :S Hope this chapter doesnt confuse too much (given my history I wouldn't be surprised though..) :D  
**sweetkyo:** your commen made my day :D  
**Devil Nightmare: **i'm the master at creating confusion..tell me what's the most confusing and i'll remember to try and sort it out ;)  
__**magsalot:** not really a cliff hanger this time -felt really weird not to write one, but cliff hangers all the time can be a bit too much :S  
**DisneyJGirl:** thanks for reading ;)  
**valroxursox123: **did i clear out the confusion? think i sent you a message...but will by and by clear it out, Cassie digs Sky -doesnt want to admit it though, cliché I know ;P  
**Krystal-wolf77: **Thanks for pep-talking me ;)  
**arya-v: **hope i didnt scare you off with my confused writing ;) thanks for being my first reviewer!_

_Please keep reviewing :D (Sorry for the nagging...but it makes me so happy XD)_


	11. Chapter 10 The Magician

**_Hello again! I felt like updating again ;) I've been looking at my story and now I realise I know where it's heading, I'm just not so sure about how I'm gonna get there...or well how Cassie's gonna get there. I realise I'm kind of inconsistent :S but as long as I finish it then I'll go back and make it all right ;) So bear with me! Oh, right, I need some help from YOU!! I dont know what Sky's real name is; I couldn't come up with a cool Master-Vampire name, so please please if you have any suggestions, any at all tell me! I realise at times that it would be handy to have another name, for now everybody else are just calling him Master but, I'd prefer a name :D As always, please review! (Thanks htr17 for the review :D reviews makes my day ;))  
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**Chapter 10 The Magician**

After the shower incident Zarah felt really bad. She'd even tried hiding from me but eventually I ran into her. I wasn't angry anymore, not with her anyways, I knew it wasn't really her fault. It amazed me how much power he must truly have being able to communicate and order his people around merely by thought. Mental note: not to mess too much with him, would not want his angry side fully encountering me.

She brought me a set of clean clothes; I happily noticed a pair of jeans along with a blouse. Jeans I could definitely work in. When I pulled them on I realised they were a tad bit tighter than I would normally have preferred, however not uncomfortably so.

She brought me back up to the bar and instructed me of the evening's happenings. They would open in a couple of hours so she put me to work straight away. My work chores began with putting together chairs and tables, then cleaning glasses. Sebastian nodded me to follow him after I'd done the rest and he showed me the secret stash of blood. I guess as the bartenders apprentice I should now where it was. Opening a fridge filled with little packs of blood wasn't the most pleasant feeling one could get, though it didn't make me sick, luckily. Otherwise I was hanging out with completely the wrong crowd.

Sebastian didn't speak much, he mostly just stared at me with an annoyed look in his eyes, I couldn't really read him. Why did he seem to have a problem with me? I shrugged and decided to let it be.

Before the bar opened Mina entered, dressed as a waitress. Yippey, we were obviously going to work together, I sighed inwardly.

"Do I smell a brewing catfight?" The silky smooth voice whispered into my ear while his hand snaked around my waist pulling me close.

"Get the hell out of my mind" I mumbled harshly under my breath. I knew he could easily hear me and I didn't feel like creating a scene, again.

"I cant, so many fascinating things going on in here" he spun me around towards him and lightly tapped my forehead.

I was about to say something "sassy" back to him when my eyes took in the whole picture in front of me. He was dressed in a shiningly white suit almost glued on to his skin. His hair was straightened reaching down over his shoulders, making up a curtain through which his piercing blue eyes looked out. The picture was made perfect with a top hat in his left hand. All in all he looked yummy.

He chuckled. "Why thank you, milady." He gave me a small bow. I felt the anger build up inside me. "Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts." A couple of deep breaths and I'd be fine.

"Care to give me a snack before we open the doors?" He leaned in to me and stopped inches away from my neck.

"This snack you could never afford, _pumpkin_." And I quickly stepped behind the bar getting some distance. He simply chuckled, winked at me and was gone.

I let out a breath I had no idea I was holding and was surprised at the look of approval I got from Sebastian. He seemed to like that all girls didn't fall at his Master's feet. Brownie point for me.

I had worked with worse guys than Sky, all I needed to do was not let him get to me. Which might be easier said than done. Especially when a part of me didn't think he was all that bad… I immediately slapped the image out of my head.

The doors opened and the people, side by side with the creatures of the night, poured into the club.

It turned out to be a rather busy night; I was constantly rushing about handing out drinks and cleaning tables. The workload was supposed to be shared with Mina but she flirted with the customers and got free drinks instead. I ground my teeth and picked up another tray, one has to pick ones fights. One good thing came out of her flirting though; since she did it hardly anybody noticed me, which suited me perfectly. After a few hours my feet were really sore from standing and walking the whole time. Sebastian looked at me.

"Hey girl, take a break. We wouldn't want you passing out of exhaustion in front of our customers. Then we'd look like real slave drivers."

I smiled at him. "You're really a nice guy Bastian."

"Ugh, don't call me that." The slight warmth he'd momentarily displayed in his eyes was gone and he was the cranky man again.

I winked at him showing that I'd seen that niceness in him; in reply he rolled his eyes and started cleaning some glasses. I walked towards a chair, planning to sit down, when I noticed there was a big commotion on the stage a floor below so I neared the railing and looked down. It seemed like they were doing a magic show, with men fairly undressed hosting it. I vaguely recognised the men, faces and parts of bodies as well since I might have seen them in that crowded shower room... Once I see a face I hardly forget it, which is why I could remember their faces already after a mere day or two. Like I said the sense of time was lost in this place. The audience started chanting a name over and over. I couldn't make out what they were saying but it sounded like they were waiting for somebody special. The chanting soon overtook the music which thus stopped playing. All eyes were on the stage. A spotlight hit the centre of the stage which was otherwise clad in darkness. The chanting was replaced by utter silence. One second it was an empty stage and the next a gorgeous man in top hat and suit stood basking in the glorious light. The people drew their breath sharply amazed by the so called magical entrance he'd made. He bowed and removed his top hat, revealing black straight hair and shimmering blue eyes. He seemed to be all over the place! As infuriating as he could be I had to admit I was curious to see what magical tricks he would undertake. I was positive that I'd be able to see through some of his tricks, I'd seen quite a lot of so called magicians when I grew up. My caretaker, Angel, always invited them to his lair, he vastly enjoyed ruining their tricks. So I remained leaning over the rail with my eyes fixed on the "magician".

"Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen for coming to our humble assembly" his words were met with wild roars, especially from the women who were a clear majority in the audience.

"Now it's time for some serious magic" He raised an eyebrow teasingly.

I could see them all being sucked in by his exuberant energy, his striking life force (funny choice of words considering all). It was like watching a huge rock star, his fans swooning by his feet. For a while I paid more attention to the crowd, watching their amazement and fascination. I chuckled to myself; clearly there were more humans than vampires tonight.

A thing about vampires I learned early on is that they move and do everything at an incredible speed, rarely caught by a human eye. Therefore a magician wouldn't really have to try hard bewitching his audience if he was one of the undead. When I scanned the crowd I realised I saw some familiar faces, Mina and Sam among others. Funnily enough they looked just as stunned as the humans. Being able to bewitch vampires, now that wasn't an easy task. He must be good then -I thought to myself.  
_Why thank you._ I shook my head and looked to the stage which was momentarily empty. I could have sworn Sky had listened to my thoughts just now. But he was nowhere to be found. Strange, where did he go? I continued watching the crowd not noticing what was going on around me. I started to wonder if maybe I'd imagined his smart comment, when I caught a glimpse of white from the corner of my eye. I let my eyes follow and I saw the magic; Sky was hovering upwards towards me with his hand stretched out to me. No strings attached to him, but seriously hovering in the thin air.

"Care to join me mademoiselle?" The spotlight had followed him letting us both shimmer in the light.

With my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth, thus letting no sound out, I simply stared at him.

_Come on, it'll be fun_. I snorted at his remark. _And safe_. Now we're talking.

He cocked an eyebrow at me and for the benefit of his audience he added:

"I promise I wont bite" which brought out a lot of laughter.

Haha, very funny, I rolled my eyes at him. I hadn't really planned to take his hand, when I got a shove from behind which practically threw me over the rail. Like a lifeline I seized his hand, and as I am a bit scared of heights I closed my eyes awaiting the bam as we would hit the floor. However, nothing happened; my feet were still hanging in thin air.

_Trust me, open your eyes._ No way! I shook my head furiously, previous terrifying scenes of being up high flashing by in my head giving him full access to it all. I really needed to learn to shield my precious thoughts. Though now wasn't the time to be thinking about it.

_Open your eyes!_ The force of his thought, as if he'd screamed inside my head, forced my eyes open and staring straight into his. His eyes were like the ocean, waves coming and going, hypnotising me. A slimmer of gold would suddenly pierce through then go back to the blue. It was like looking at a clear blue sky with the occasional cloud, and then a thundering gold. I barely noticed us spinning, slowly at first then faster and faster. His eyes ignited the Energy force in mine. The Energy came off my skin, my hair and my eyes in soft energy waves. The audience gasped; they'd probably never seen a show like this. (Great, now I'm a freaking circus-freak as well.) As the Energy built up in me I began to loose touch of myself, my body acting by itself. My left hand reached out and touched his cheek and my thoughts went to darker places I'm ashamed to acknowledge I thought them, especially knowing he just read it all… As I said, I wasn't myself. Before realising what I was doing I leaned in and kissed his soft lips, a passionate but short kiss. His eyes shone with the same amount of surprise that I felt. I fought with my mind, managing to suppress the desire which was consuming us, successfully I brusquely pushed him away from me. I managed to float a couple of seconds of my own might until I looked down and gulped. I was still high up, dammit. The Matrix-moment was gone and I was falling down towards the audience. As if it had all been planned, Sky easily scooped me up in his arms just before I reached the people beneath us and carried me to the stage where his feet landed softly.

The audience was in an uproar. Ladies fainted from the dramatic scene we'd "put up" for them. Some were contemplating how to steal a kiss themselves and wondering what it would feel like to float in the air. Having experienced it myself I could have told them the feeling was truly magnificent, that is until the mind remembers it's impossible and the "spell" breaks.

"You can put me down now."

"I know."

"Right, let me rephrase that; put me down NOW!"

"I swear I don't really get you. First you throw yourself at me, then you decide you're not interested and you act like you really dislike me-" I snorted at his suggestion "but then you surprise me again and go ahead and kiss me."

Well that wasn't really me… he heard my thought and gave me a confused look. Then he turned towards his crowd again, dropping me onto my feet in the process.

"That's our show for tonight folks. I hope you enjoyed it and that you'll come back next fortnight. Good evening to you all." He bowed, silently forcing me to bow as well. The curtain was pulled in front of us shielding us from the audience disappointment.

"Now where were we?" he crushed me against him and lifted my chin up. "Oh yes, I remember" he leaned in.

What a dilemma I faced. I could, one, let him kiss me, I know I'd enjoy it, or I could, two, duck and remain with my self respect intact. Decisions decisions. Luckily we were interrupted by a loud voice.

"What an amazing show you put on tonight! Truly lovely my dears. And you, not to tell me you would be in it, what a fine joke." Zarah winked at me as she pushed herself past Sky and squeezed me into a tight hug. Sky looked annoyed at the large woman in between us. I sighed of relief and simply smiled at Zarah.

"Had I known I would have picked a more matching outfit for you, I'll have to do it for the next time then."

On slightly shaking legs and with Sky's eyes burning holes in my back I let Zarah lead me back upstairs towards the bar.

"Let's get you a drink dear, oh excellent, Thor darling will you be a hun and get Ms Celine here a drink I have to go check on something." She was off and I stood in front of Thor, the blonde red eyed stranger. Who seemed to be so talkative, what an evening! Irony aside I decided I might need a drink after all and sat down.

"Well then, what would you like? Though you're the bartender here so you'd probably know it better than I."

"I have no idea, surprise me. Nothing bloody though." I made a face. "Can't stand it."

"You've tried it? As a human?" This caused him to raise an eyebrow at me, seemingly amused with me.

"Well, not intentionally or by my own will, but yes I have."

He gave me a strange look. "Very well, how about a Seabreeze? Sounds like the sort of thing you'd like."

"Like you know me." I jerked my head letting my hair dangle.

"Would you like to change that?"

"Hm, no, not interested." I gulped down the drink. "Thanks for the drink, but I'll see what more work there is for me."

"I thought you came here to take a break?"

"Well…I should probably get back to work, I'm not sure about the working hours so I wouldn't want to mess it up before I get a permanent job here."

"I'm sure they'd allow you a break or two." Thor actually seemed…maybe not nice but slowly edging closer to it.

_You did not just think that._

Taken by surprise I jumped around slamming into a solid chest.

"I'm sorry" I mumbled before I looked up and regretted the apology.

"Are you serious?" Sky's eyes were shooting daggers at me and more at Thor.

"About the apology, let me think, no."

"You're talking to _him_? The breaks aren't for fraternising with the enemy. Highly unacceptable behaviour, I don't allow it." Sky grabbed my arm and held it tight.

"Do you hear me?" He shook me like one would when telling of a little child. Angered by his strange behaviour I slapped him as hard as I could. As impressive as that sounds it didn't really turn out the way it does in movies. With his supernatural reactivity he caught my hand before I'd touched his porcelain skin. It felt like hitting a rock.

"You do not order me around. I am not a part of your stupid coven. I leave whenever I want to. So stop patronizing me."

Silence, utter silence.

"You really need to tame your little toy, what will your followers think if you cannot even tame this little…thing." Thor spoke up again, always out to cause more trouble. That half thought about him being nice? I _so_ take it back.

For a second I stood there staring at them, not believing what was happening around me. Then it hit me how tired I was of their macho-crap, and that I didn't have to put up with it. It's not like I'd joined a sect when I came here, I could just leave.

"Shut up! What is your problem? I'm so tired of this whole macho style you're having here. Just leave me alone." I pushed away from them and ran out the door, out of this insane house and into the street. There was still a queue out front, even though they'd close within half an hour.

I wandered the streets for a long time before I decided to head back to my apartment. The anger was still brewing in me, mostly because I'd felt the hurt in Sky's voice and it had made me feel bad. Funny huh? I felt bad because I'd upset him when I'd talked to his "enemy". I heard myself and it sounded an awful lot like I liked being ordered around, which I swear to god I don't! The cool night air managed to take off an edge of my fury, but not to kill the burning fire in me.

I'd forgotten the keys, of course, but I had a fire escape and a slightly broken window which made up a flight plan I'd used many a times. I easily snuck in through the little window. When inside I couldn't help but slam things as I passed them. Great, I'd lost yet another job and I was already running low on cash. Could always go back to Marshall and get my pay check I guess, in the rush of leaving that place I'd forgotten to ask for it. I'd have to wait until his family business opened though. I brushed my teeth and stared at my mirror image. My eyes were still glowing greener than normally, yet I didn't feel tired at all. I could go run a marathon or two. Except that I'd never actually do that, only insane people would go running for hours, no thank you. I might be crazy but not on that level.

I continued into my bedroom and stopped. Even in the darkness I could make out a shape on my bed. My heart rate went to the roof. I hit the light, and sighed from relief. Rather the devil you know…

"You left in quite a hurry doll, felt like I needed to check on you." Sky stood up, looking a bit, wait is that, apologetic? Of course he immediately replied to my thought, from the sound of his reply apologizing didn't come easy to him.

"Yes, I'm sorry I…tend to get a bit territorial. I'm working on it though." He paused and looked at me for understanding. "Nobody else really minds, after all it's what I'm supposed to do as their Master, which is why I easily get carried away." He tore his hand through his hair. I merely narrowed my eyes at him.

"What I'm trying to say is please come back."

I looked at him, stunned. This arrogant ass wanted me back? He put on a straight face for me, showing that he didn't intentionally listen to my thoughts. That gives him a brownie point, no doubt. Did I want to come back? Because of the money problem; hell yeah. Maybe even a dark twisted part of me had missed hanging around his kind. _My kind?_ His facial expression told me he regretted commenting my thought even as he'd projected it to me. Annoying, but forgivable. Hell, if I had that gift I'd probably be the most paranoid girl ever, listening to what people thought of me. He cleared his throat to get my attention.

"Maybe we can try to find a way to shield your thoughts a bit." My ears tuned in closely listening to his suggestion. If I wasn't hooked before he said it, I sure was now. I remembered something then, quickly I started thinking of a million things at the same time, hoping to confuse him. From the look of his face it must have been working.

"One condition."

"Name it".

"You spend the night here."


	12. Chapter 11 The Experiment

**_Hello! Thnx for reviews -really helpful :D For those who got confused by the ending of the previous chapter; Cassie (which is her real name, Celine is the name she got while working at the club; I know i'm the master of confusion, so sorry :S) was the one who said the last sentence of the previous chapter -suggesting the sleepover in her apartment. ;) Probably not what you think though, here it comes! (Oh, excuse me for sounding like a broken record but please review :D)_**

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Chapter 11: The experiment

_If I wasn't hooked before he said it, I sure was now. I remembered something then, quickly I started thinking of a million things at the same time, hoping to confuse him.__ From the look of his face it must have been working._

"_One condition."_

"_Name it"._

"_You spend the night with me here."_

Astonished at what I'd said he stared at me, but before the wicked smile kicked in I put up a hand to stop his fantasising and continued:

"I want to see what happens when you sleep. Don't go get any ideas."

"Why should I trust you that much?"

"Well why should I?"

"Touché" he confessed and kicked off his shoes. He shrugged out of his coat and threw it onto a chair. "Just don't tell me I'm sleeping on the floor, because that I don't do."

"Fine you can sleep in the armchair."

"Well aren't we considerate today" he said ironically but settled down in the old chair and appeared to be fairly comfortable in it.

I took my nightgown and left to another room.

"If you'd asked I would have closed my eyes" he called out to me. Bullshit I thought (a thought he did not reply to, fancy that.)

The minute I walked back into my bedroom his blue eyes were on me. My purple and ordinary nightgown which reached my knees suddenly felt like it was see-through from the hard stares he was giving me. I climbed under the covers, feeling his burning gaze the whole time. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all, having him stay here. I tried pulling the cover over my eyes, but it only caused me to suffocate. Gasping for air I sat up in the bed, my eyes immediately found his.

"This is a bit awkward…" I might as well say it out loud since he could read it all over me anyways.

"You hadn't really thought this thru, had you?"

"I was just wondering what happens when you sleep, _if_ you sleep."

"Right, so you're plan is to stay awake all night –make that morning considering how late it is, and watch _me_ fall asleep? Brilliant plan honey." He rolled his eyes.

When he said it out lout, it did sound rather dumb.

"Lying in your bed, tucked in and all, isn't going to help you stay awake you know."

He did have a point. I scratched my head, waiting for ideas to pop out of me. We could play games…though might not be ideal, after all; I wanted _him_ to fall asleep.

"So we'll talk" I decided; talking could induce sleep.

"About what?"

"Anything, I don't really know anything about you."

He kept staring at me, silently, waiting for me to go on, or give up.

"Well, what's you name, that's a good start."

"I thought you'd already picked a name for me, what's the point in telling you? Wouldn't it just ruin the magic?"

"What magic?" I looked sceptically at him.

"Say my name was Bob, wouldn't it be rather disappointing?"

"Jeez man, you're a Master vampire, you must have a cooler name."

"You do realise that getting a name comes way before becoming a Master, don't you?"

"So tell me." He looked away, so I continued. "Unless you're embarrassed about it? Maybe your mother picked an awful name…" I couldn't disguise the gleeful note in my voice, couldn't and wouldn't.

"My mother died giving birth to me." His eyes looked sad then.

"I'm so sorry." And I realised I really was. _Thank you._

I didn't think it was right of me to press him on the name, so I changed subjects.

"Why did you want me to come back to work? It must be easy for you to find a replacement for me. Most girls would probably give their right arm to get the chance to work at your club."

"That's why; you're experienced in the area."

I gave him a sceptical look, he must have heard how clumsy I'd been the first day, clearly lacking working experiences in these kind of establishments.

"I mean that you are experienced in the area of being around us undead. Sure you were a bit shaken when you first realised what we are." That's one way to put it I thought.

"But then you got up and, it's not weird anymore is it?"

"Why are you so nice to me?" I swear to God I don't get this man. He seemed so sweet now, but I knew that he was a murderer. My thought seemed to momentarily hurt him like I'd hit him, but he quickly regained his composure.

"When I say you're being nice I do not mean that you're _getting to me. Don't_ get any ideas, you're not that nice and I'm certainly not that easily seduced."

"Honey, if I wanted to seduce you, trust me, you couldn't stop me."

"Like I haven't heard that before" I rolled my eyes. _You might have, but I really mean it._

"Am I supposed to be offended by you not wanting to seduce me?" I raised a questioning eyebrow at him, indescribable feelings rising within me.

"It's not that I don't want to, however I've understood that you would hate yourself and me a thousand times more afterwards."

I considered this and had to agree; he was absolutely right. If he seduced me using his vampire powers on me I wouldn't be able to forgive him or myself.

"Why are you fighting so hard?" His question caught me off guard.

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you fighting against yourself, what you want, so hard?"

"You mean why I resist jumping you now? I'm not an animal! Honestly, I'm not entirely sure I like you and I sure as hell don't trust you."

"Not even after the show?" he winked at me.

"Absolutely not after the show! You're mood swings are insane. You act all cute, then it's like a switch is turned off in your head and you're acting pissed off. Is that being territorial? I'd say you've got some serious boundaries issues. You can't stop people from talking to other people."

This was a subject that lay close to heart for both of us though for different reasons. He hated the fact that I'd been talking to Thor, his arch-enemy or something, and I hated that he wanted to control me. Neither of us was ready to see the other's point of view, clearly a stormy fight was closing in on us.

My eyelids felt really heavy all of a sudden. His eyes were still perfectly blue, but with a moving motion inside them, like rolling waves on the ocean. I tried to remember my train of thought, but it was lost on the sea of his eyes.

My head fell heavily against the pillows.

It wasn't the most relaxed sleep I've ever had, but it was passable. I felt really groggy when I opened my eyes, but I'd only had one drink last night, so that could not be the reason. The previous night, well morning, slowly came back to me and I sat up straight staring into the empty chair opposite me. He'd disappeared! Or had he been there at all? I touched my head hoping to get the room to stop spinning. A light movement made me turn my head to my left and there he was, laying right next to me, his eyes closed and his face looking peaceful. I laid back down and scooted closer to him. Was he breathing? I leaned my head softly against his chest, but I couldn't feel any movement. I looked up into his face again. Maybe he was in a coma-like state, maybe he didn't know I was here…a long shot but I didn't mind wishing for it. Hesitantly I reached out a hand towards his face, as I was about to streak back one of his dark strands of hair that had fallen across his face his eyes burst open and he caught my hand, lifting it above my head.

"Hey!" I protested pulling in vain to get my arm back.

"Were you about to violate me?" He raised an eyebrow at me.

"No…" Couldn't very well tell him I just wanted to touch his hair. Guess I just did though, bloody treacherous mind…

"Were you asleep?" I asked him, changing the subject.

"No, I merely closed my eyes when I realised you were waking up, didn't want to miss hearing your reaction." Annoyed I sat up. The obvious glee in his voice didn't help silence the constant irritation I felt around him.

"We don't need sleep, "fresh" vampires might need it to cope with the change and all, but it's better described as falling into coma than sleeping." He continued.

"Oh." I wasn't sure what I had expected, though it wasn't exactly comforting to know that the strongest predator didn't need sleep, ever.

I noticed a slight change in his facial expression, a momentary discomfort that quickly passed away. His lips were thinly stretched.

"What is it?" I looked at him, worry increasing within me.

_The sun…_ I looked towards my windows and realised the sun was blazing in through the poorly hung-up drapes.

"So sunlight does hurt you?"

"Not directly, but it weakens us. It's not that strange when you think about it; for humans a really fair-skinned person suffers more from sunburn than a dark-skinned does. With our bright skin you can imagine what happens. The sun quickly vaporises the water in us. The only water we have is from the blood we've taken."

I jumped up to try and correct the drapes. "I'm sorry I didn't think of that…though you could have warned me." Panic rose in my voice as a thought hit me; was I killing him? The thought made me more scared and worried than I thought it would. Was I killing the Master? Then what would happen to me when they found out? A coven full of angry vampires, chasing me, wasn't exactly the way I'd planned my weekend.

"Blood…" he whispered. I ran to his side to hear him better.

_I need blood…_ Oh. I knew what I had to do, but I really didn't want to do it.

"Are you sure there's no other way?" _Blood…_ "You're not tricking me are you?" Suspiciously I looked at him but what I found in his eyes made me feel ashamed. The man in front of me had been reduced to a little child, a sick child, who was in desperate need of my help. I ran into the kitchen and grabbed the sharpest knife I could find, and then I rushed back. His skin was shimmering with sweat; I didn't even know vampires could sweat. I put the blade to the skin on my left wrist. Adrenaline was running through my body, making my heart pump faster. I'd never done this before, never hurt myself before. Previously this wouldn't have been able to pierce my thick skin, but for some reason I knew it would work now, whether it had to do with me willingly giving it away or what… A last look into his eyes and then I increased the pressure on the knife letting the blade pierce my skin. It was easier than I had thought, and it took a few seconds for the pain to kick in. I didn't even have time to lift my arm towards him; he immediately smelt the fresh blood and forced his weakening body to sit up. He reached for my arm, the hunger blazing in his eyes. I hardly had time to think –what had I done…

His bite hurt ten times more than the knife had, and his sucking felt like somebody took a claw into my wound and rummaged it around in there. I ground my teeth, not wanting to scream out from the pain. After a few seconds he sat up straighter, his muscles working properly again, nevertheless he kept sucking my life force away. I remembered the last time we'd done this, how close he'd been to taking too much. I hadn't even considered the possibility of that happening again. The more seconds that ticked away the more probable it seemed to reoccur. Then he surprised me by slowly releasing my hand from his deathly grip. He took away his mouth and licked himself clean around the mouth. He planted soft kisses on my wound, his cool lips soothing the pain, and then he looked back up at me. His eyes were almost back to their normal colour. He probably needed more blood, but we both knew he wouldn't take it from me.

"See? I don't repeat mistakes." He held tightly around my arm a little while longer, until he was sure the blood wouldn't rush out of my arm by itself then he let go. He surprised me again by pulling me close, almost into a lover's embrace. He stroke my hair softly and whispered into my ear:

"Thank you".

We sat like that for a while, none of us wanting to break the truce we had created. I knew I'd have to go back to pushing him away from me the moment we said or did anything, rebuild my safety walls around me, and since I did not really want that, yet, I remained still. He obviously was in no rush either, he just held me.


	13. Chapter 12 A busy night

_**Hello again, sorry bout the super long silence from me... I've been completely stuck with the story. I've written this chapter at least in four different ways, my computer broke down... well, here it is at least. Sorry to say it's not very good, I just feel like I need to get on with the story, or I'll never continue. I'm aware it's most likely to be more confusing than usually (I blame parts of it on the fever I'm having), so ask if there's something you don't understand! A million thanx to all the reviewers, you know who you are ;) you've given me the kick in the butt I needed to continue writing. Thank you!**_

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**Chapter 12**** Three encounters in one night**

We were back at the club, and everything was like it ever had been. A slight change though. After having shared the intimate moment when Sky held me, he now completely ignored me. Well not entirely, but just about. He went from insane flirting to totally ignoring me; boy could this guy mess with ones head or not.

When his blue eyes did meet mine, a current passed through my body. I felt pathetic. I forced myself to close my eyes and look away, continue picking up glasses until my tray was full and returned quickly to the bar.

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I put away all the dirty glasses. It had taken me some time to get to know the ropes around here. Lots of mistakes I'd made at first, finally I was grasping it, sort of. Apparently I was a waiter, but not in the same sense as in "the mortal world". Here they wanted to show me off, I was more like an accessory to the place, which indirectly meant to him, my Sky. I hit my hand to my mouth; had I actually thought that? I dared not turn around to see if he'd heard my thought. How utterly embarrassing that would be! He'd seemed busy with some important guests though so most likely he wouldn't have been listening to my every thought. A person would go insane constantly listening to every body's thoughts all the time. Not that I say he's remotely sane…

The dishes were done by servants, apparently lower on the scales than I. I had forgotten the feeling of people serving you, tending to your needs. Not since leaving Angel's house had I experienced that. It had been hard enough to make a living, but paying for help around the house? I wish! Not that I would say I had any servants here, but they were everywhere, almost invisible. Most likely they had been singled out to this job because nobody noticed them. How sad didn't that sound?

Like magic the dirty glasses had disappeared from under my nose and there were stacks of clean ones. I sighed.

"What bothers you know?"

Jonah had arrived at the bar, downing a beer Sebastian gave him in a glimpse.

I gave him a disapproving glare.

"Hey I was thirsty! You try dancing an hour with these vultures for women, let's see how you take it." I couldn't help but smile at him. He was a sexy guy in most women's eyes. To me he was just Jonah, my dear buddy. Buddies were a rarity in this odd establishment.

"No thanks, I'll just take your word for it." I smiled at him but started fiddling with the bottles.

"What is it with you and dancing, or should I say _not_ dancing?" He eyed me suspiciously.

"I just don't find the fun in it." I shrugged trying to keep my calm, my nervous heartbeat betrayed. I didn't want to dig in my history, and certainly didn't feel like explaining how ungraceful I was. Of course I wasn't as gracious as them, they were after all a species to themselves, yet among my own kind I couldn't follow anything remotely like a rhythm. In short; I didn't dance.

"Honey, you need to be a way better liar to survive around here" he rolled his eyes at me, but dropped the subject.

Several dressed up –or should I say dressed _down_- women walked up to us, giving me jealous stares, funny that.

"Come on J-darling, let's dance" a blonde woman cooed at Jonah.

Their obvious flirting, how they practically threw themselves at him, almost made me sick. I knew part of it wasn't their fault. During open hours the vampires who worked in the club had to let some of their glamour show, drawing their prey, oops -I mean humans, in. Luckily it didn't entirely work on me. At first I just thought they turned it off around me, but several had tried. Mostly the younger ones who loved to make bets between themselves about anything weird. Since I didn't react like normal humans I was definitely classified as weird, a bit of a freak. _Me_ _-_the freak in a house of vampires, was that really fair? I think not.

Jonah plastered a smile on his face.

"Of course ladies, lead the way." He grimaced at me, making me laugh, before he turned away.

---------------

It had been a busy week, this Friday night certainly no exception. Sebastian had taught me different drinks and I realised I enjoyed it here. I didn't have to hide my abilities, my green Energy mixed with the others, I wasn't really that special when there was all of them with different powers. I found it peaceful, might seem like an odd choice of words but as I thought it to myself I realised how true it was. Peaceful.

"Have you gone deaf?" Mina snarled at me. I moaned inwards. Mina was still pissed at our first encounter, and she still believed me to be her Masters latest toy. Her jealousy seemed to have no boundaries.

"Sorry, what?" I asked her calmly.

"Three glasses of Bloody Mary's and two glasses of red wine, please." She added please drenching with sarcasm.

"Coming up" I went behind the bar and whisked the order together, faster than she expected I noted, suppressing a smile.

"Here you go" I handed her a tray. She smiled her oh-so-sweet smile at me which was usually not a good sign.

"Me carrying the tray? You forget your place little one." She directed me in the right way. As I neared the table she put out a foot in front of my feet making me stumble. The tray was overloaded and heavily swaying as I loosed balance. I managed to pull myself up before all the drinks went flying. Except for one. One tall intimidating man, nicely clad, was within seconds displaying a huge dark red mark on his thighs.

I felt his anger before he displayed it. I swallowed, this was clearly not good. He stood up towering over me, the closest people around us had gone silent, listening in on what was about to happen. Mina couldn't hide her big smile which meant one thing for me; this was going to be rather unpleasant. I stood up straight, forcing myself to calmly face him.

"I'm so sorry sir." I bowed slightly at him showing my lower rank. I hated hierarchy but if behaving accordingly could help me out of trouble then I had to try it. He slowly sat down again, which should be a good sign right?

"Sorry doesn't really cut it does it?" He growled. His voice was dark and very, _very _furious. Oh boy.

"No indeed." I remembered I had some napkins in my pocket on the apron, I got down on my knees and started dabbing the paper on his thighs. The air around us got thick. His energy seemed to change, from dark fury to something else. I was uncertain as of what to do, should I offer him a new set of pants? Surely there would be a fitting pair for him in our huge closet. Or would that seem inappropriate? I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing until I realised my hand was getting dangerously close to intimate territory. I abruptly stopped and faced him again, my face flushed though desperately trying to hide it.

"That was, nice of you." His dark voice wasn't as scary anymore, but I still didn't like the sound of it. "Another drink would perhaps be in order to demand?"

"Of course, anything, it's on the house." I was relieved that we could settle this problem so easily.

I felt a heavy slap in the head and noticed Sebastian right behind me.

"Sorry sir, here's your drink." He quickly pulled me back to the bar before the man could protest.

My head hurt like he'd hit me with a brick. With the brute force vampires can muster up, it basically was what he had done.

"What the hell did you do that for?" I rubbed the back of my head.

"You should thank me for saving you." He scowled at me.

"What? Saving me by killing off some of my brain cells? Oh right, thank you very much."

"Stupid girl! You offered him a drink."

"Yes, it seemed like the right thing to do" I defended myself.

He sighed then at my ignorance.

"Understandable, but you offered it the wrong way. Never tell a vampire that he can drink anything, understand?"

"No I don't understand. Why shouldn't they be allowed to order-"

Frustrated Sebastian quickly interrupted me.

"Because he would have demanded a drink from you, from _your_ veins. Get it now?"

"Oh." Shit, how could I not have seen that coming? I needed to be more alert to all those little things.

"But surely he wouldn't be allowed to, I mean against my wishes and all, you would have protected me, right?" I blurted out nervously, not daring to even cast a glimpse back at the group.

"Normally no, but you offered him, _anything_ so in this case we'd all have been helpless."

"Even Sky?" I'd said without thinking.

"Sky?" He raised a questioning eyebrow at the tenderness in my voice when I mentioned their Master, but he let it slip. "Oh Master you mean, he would have had to be the one to cut your vein open, offering it to the guest."

I took a sharp breath. He wouldn't do that, would he? Sebastian noticed my doubt.

"Oh he would have honey, he'd had no choice, no matter how pretty you are."

-----------------

It was discomforting to know I'd almost given myself away without realising it. Like a lamb smiling on the way to slaughter. Knowing nobody could have helped me scared the crap out of me. When I saw Mina's grinning face I realised that it was exactly what she had planned. What a _bitch_!

She laughed with her friends, undoubtedly proud over her plan even though, luckily for me, it had failed. She came to the bar again with a huge smile on her face.

No civility from me this time.

"What?"

"Is that a way to greet your elder?" She narrowed her eyes at me.

"I'm not a vampire remember? So your elder-stuff doesn't work with me." I couldn't help but gloat.

"That could easily be arranged, trust me." Another evil grin, oh no, why didn't she just leave me alone?

"Can't you just go back to ignoring me?" I sighed.

"I wish I could, but you make it impossible, rubbing it in my face all the time." Was that a hurt note in her voice?

"What- I'm not rubbing anything in your face?" Probably just another trick, but she had me curious.

"Stop with the innocent act" she snarled. "You can't fool me. I know you want him and _whoopee_ for you the feelings are reciprocated, so stop acting more stupid than you are, you're insulting my intelligence."

"Who the heck are you talking about?" I was confused.

"You may be pretty, like a shiny new toy to him, but nothing else! He'll quickly grow tired of you and forget about the pathetic little human you are. So stop daydreaming. He'll come back to me. You'll see."

It then hit me who she must be talking about.

"Trust me your jealousy is way off the walls in this case, there's nothing between us and there won't be." I saw Sky's eyes in front of me, how he'd been ignoring me all evening, and I scorned myself for the hurt feeling it caused me. I felt my energy build up as I tried to fend her away.

"Jealousy? Would _I_ be jealous of a…of a _thing_ like you? Don't make me laugh honey." She'd raised her voice during our conversation, her eyes were shooting daggers at me.

"Are you insulting _my_ intelligence now? Obviously you adore him." I shot back at her, my temper flaring.

"Obviously, yes! He's my Master, of course I adore him! But you, you don't really care about him. You just like the attention."

"Attention? What attention? He never looks at me! He doesn't care bout me." I hated myself the second I uttered those words, what ever happened to me playing it cool? I sounded like a pathetic love-sick fool.

"Doesn't look at you? Girl you are blind." She looked at me like I was stupid, but I knew what I had seen, I knew I was right. I'd never caught him looking at me secretly, and I forced myself not to look his way. He'd taken my blood twice, and already he acted like he didn't care. Maybe Mina was right…

"But it doesn't matter. He'll play with you and drop you, so why bother?" Mina spoke with a quiet voice now, a hint of sadness in it, sounding like she wasn't referring to me anymore. Her eyes looked at something far away, or maybe it was too close; maybe it was her own soul -considering if she has one.

This new side to her completely threw me off. I almost wanted to comfort her…hang on, was this manipulation?

However, the calm moment was gone in a heart beat. Mina's cold dead eyes met mine.

"I warn you, stay away."

"And if I don't?" I found myself speaking without meaning to. Whatever happened to laying low? I scowled at myself.

"You will regret it. He's mine."

The hell he is I thought to myself.

Mina was about to walk off when I mumbled to myself.

"Clearly he doesn't want you". I'd forgotten how acute their hearing was, but as Mina's body slammed into mine, causing me to fly over the bar, I remembered. I quickly stood up as the growing adrenaline within me soothed my bruised body.

"Is that all you've got?" I taunted her. Teasing a pissed off vampire must be the dumbest thing to do, but I was tired of her. It was pay back time.

Like an animal she lunged for me again, somehow I managed to step away the last second, sending her flying into the wall herself. That must have hurt; both her pride and body. People around us started laughing.

Mina and my relationship had quickly gone from hate to deepest enemies. Whoopee.

--------------

Back in my room I sat down on the bed and pulled up my knees to my chin, hugging myself. I had been beyond stupid, not only once but twice today.

I'd been protecting my pride, I told myself, against Mina. But what pride had she hurt? That I was a toy to Sky? That he would cast me off? That I still wanted him? What hurt the most? A part of me already felt like he was mine, how stupid of me wasn't that?

"Who is yours?"

Sky had sneaked up on me, again, making me jump high by hearing his velvety voice. I looked up and saw him standing in front of the bed. Had I fallen asleep? Was my mind conjuring him up in my dreams?

"Would it be a good dream?" He teased.

"Go away" I muttered.

Of course he didn't. The door closed behind him, leaving just the two of us in my bedroom. My heart beat started racing at that thought which made him smile. Oh stupid body, I scowled at myself.

_You don't really want me to go away, do you?_ He sat down on the other end of the bed, I eyed him warily. His sweet smile disappeared and his mask came on.

"What just happened in the bar, Cassie?" His professional tone slipped into his voice.

"Nothing."

"Don't think me a fool. Everybody in this building saw, heard or felt your encounter. What was it about?"

I didn't know what to say, so I forced my mind and lips to remain sealed. Most likely he already knew the answers but he wanted me to voice it out loud.

"As your Master I demand to know" his voice took on a deep and scary tone. Since anger was still brooding within me, my Energy happily welcomed the possibility of a second outrage.

"My _Master_? The hell you are."

A second later I was pinned up against the wall, his strong hand holding a tight grasp around my throat. He wasn't choking me, merely intimidating me. He almost succeeded, almost. Any normal human would have peed her pants of fright, his stone face all cold and fury brooding in his eyes. But I'm not normal, remember? And I was still pissed off.

"Stop treating me like one of your leecher-servants. I'm not your property, but your employee. The worst you can do to me is fire me, and I'll find a new job so don't flatter yourself." I tried sounding fierce, but the situation made it difficult.

He slowly lightened his hold, though remained close with his body pressed against mine.

_Why are you so-_

Stupid I thought to myself. One had to be stupid encountering angry vampires three times in an evening.

_-irresistible._

He surprised me by leaning close resting his nose against my neck and inhaling deep.

Nervous by the sudden intimate situation I started babbling.

"I thought vampires didn't need to breathe."

"We don't, but your smell is intoxicating." I looked into his blue eyes, golden blue swirling pools. I could see my hunger mirrored in his eyes.

_How difficult is it for you to say you want me?_ He leaned closer brushing his lips against mine. My heart was sprinting and my head flashed images of more intimate positions we could take. I felt his smile against my lips and knew what I had to do. I needed to be able to shield my mind from his intrusions before anything else happened between us. However in order to do that I needed space.

I don't want him, a blood-sucker, murderer and god knows what else? I forced the thought to remain clear in my head, immediately sensing the hurt I had caused in him. His pride made him release me right away.

"Sweet dreams then." And he was gone.

I took three deep breaths trying to calm down my excited body. It was useless. How I hated the influence he had on me. As I tried to calm down I thought of the three things I'd learned tonight; no need in denying it -I _really_ liked Sky, and I was pretty sure he liked me back. Though most importantly I needed help to close off my mind from others. And I knew exactly who could give me that help. I lay back against the pillows and smiled to myself. Tomorrow would be an interesting day.


	14. Chapter 13 Training

_Hello again, fast update this time, next one will probably take a while... Read and review :D the reviews make my day xD_

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Chapter 13**** Training**

"No way."

"Come on, please?" I tried to keep my face innocent and sweet, which only made him look more suspiciously at me.

"Why should I help you? I couldn't care less about your pathetic thoughts."

"Please Thor. Think of it this way; who else but you would want him to suffer?" I immediately knew I had found the right angle to win him over.

"And why would your, I repeat, pathetic thoughts, hurt him?" He was intrigued alright, yet playing it cool.

"Not wanting to sound above myself, but he has some interest in me, deep or not, and he likes knowing he's on top of things, that he's the boss. Let's show him he's not." I chose my words carefully, trying to hit the right spots.

He silently stared at me for what seemed like eternity.

"You're right, he would suffer, can't believe I didn't see that one." He let the silence drag out between us again, keeping me on my toes.

"Thor? Come on."

Still silence.

"Don't make me beg."

"You were going to beg? This I've got to see." He leaned back into his chair putting his feet up on the small coffee table in front of me. "By all means beg away."

I felt a cold anger settle within me. I hadn't really meant what I said; obviously I would never beg him, or anyone else for that matter, for anything. I simply looked at him then turned to leave.

"We're alike, you and I. So I have to confess I didn't really think you would beg, but I had to try." He gave me a wolfish grin. "I am glad though, no make that thrilled, to see you want to hurt him as much as I do."

I didn't entirely care for the way he put it; I wasn't out to cause him pain, but a teeny bit of suffering for his ego seemed in place.

"I don't want to hurt him" I said in my defence.

"Of course you do. Well, you probably want some cuddling after wards" Thor made a face at that. "But you want him to come to you, don't deny it." His red eyes defied any denying which was about to leave my lips. He was right. Now I had realised I did want Sky, but I didn't want to have to make the first move.

"When can we start?"

"Right now, first I want you to think how important this is to you. You need to find your drive, because trust me cutie, with me as your teacher you'll need every bit of strength you can muster up." He dismissed me with a simple wave. I'm not the kind of person to take likely on dismissals, yet I let this one slide. I had some major focusing to do.

--------------

"I'm doing this for me." The force behind my softly spoken words reverberated off the walls.

"Please elaborate, Cassie." Thor walked around me in the dark room. My eyes were closed, yet somehow I felt his presence.

"I'm doing this in order to find peace in my mind."

"And?"

"I need this to keep people around me safe."

"Aren't we the noble ones?" There was a slight drawl in Thor's voice. "Go on."

"I want to rub off that smirk on Sky's face."

"Now we're talking" Thor laughed.

"Mostly I'm doing this for me."

"You said that."

"But I don't think you fully comprehended me, I'm doing this for ME!"

I screamed out the last word at the top of my lungs, with the scream a green storm built up in my eyes, sparkling like a burning flame.

"That's good." Thor nodded slightly. "I believe we have found your driving force. Now you need to put it at the front of your mind, always keeping focus on the goal."

"Now I'm going to try get inside your head and you're supposed to focus on your goal and shield me out."

"Okay" I waited for him to say when he would start.

In the mean time I started thinking of how surprised Sky would be when he found out he couldn't hear my thoughts any more. I smiled to myself.

I wouldn't flatter myself if I were you, by this rate we're working at you will have grown old and die before that ever happens.

What? How…Oh crap, I forgot to focus.

You certainly did. Don't tell me you were waiting for me to announce when I'd break into your head? You were! You are more stupid than I ever thought.

Hey! Now I was getting annoyed at his sarcastic voice inside me.

If I warned you then you would never learn to stop people from picking your mind whenever they felt like it. I hardly think Sky would send you a note in advance warning you that at 11pm-

I get it, I thought, just shut up.

You are going to have to make me.

Fine, SHUT UP! I screamed in my head mustering up my Energy while I pictured shoving a mini-version of Thor out of my head.

I listened but heard nothing, had it really worked? I opened my eyes not remembering that I had even closed them. I saw Thor sprawled out on the floor ahead of me.

"Oh my god, Thor! Are you okay?" Before I had gotten close to him he jumped up in a smooth movement.

"That was a poor attempt, it worked this time though so I guess you did alright. But we need to get you to focus differently." He walked closer to me while he talked. "Picture a door in your head. This door is opened at the moment and leads into your mind, heart and soul. Your most private thoughts are in there. Do you see where I'm going with this?"

"I'm supposed to protect the door?"

"Obviously yes, but first you need to learn to shut it, slam it in the intruder's face. Then lock it and swallow the key." He circled around me before he jumped across the room. "Ready?"

"So you're warning me ahead this time?" I grinned at him.

Pay attention, isn't that what I was lecturing about a minute ago? It's what I meant to talk about at least.

Damn it!

Yes, so I'm in now. What are you going to do about it? This is an interesting memory you have; you've lived with vampires before? Maybe that's why you sort of belong here, doesn't explain why you don't behave more appropriately though…

Stop digging in my mind!

Make me.

I tried the shoving I'd done before but I couldn't find him in my head so there was no one to actually shove.

What did we talk about? Think. Oh, who is this vampire who took care of you? Looks like he had the hots for you.

Was he insulting my Angel? My father, and brother and only friend? Oh damn him to hell alright. My anger built up again, but I forced it under control. What _had_ we been talking about? A door. I have to picture a door. I closed my eyes and saw a big old fashioned oak door in front of me, wide open. I imagined putting my hands towards and started pushing. But nothing happened.

You don't have enough of brutal force to shove it closed.

I knew he was right, but what then? I started picturing my mind forcing it closed. It slowly moved an inch. Happiness flooded through me pushing me on. I combined my Energy and my minds force to slowly close the door. I listened, but the annoying voice was gone. I smiled and took a deep breath. This was easy I thought.

You forgot the locking part.

The door was slightly opened again, I cursed to myself. I mustered my Energy again, this time slamming it closed. I conjured up an old iron key with my mind. It's metal coolness laying hard against my skin in my hand. I gripped it and inserted it in the dusty lock of the door. The lock clicked into place after which the silence remained intact.

"You're not such a bad student after all." Thor patted me on the back. I opened my eyes and smiled at him.

"And you're quite the teacher."

"I used to train new recruits in the army before so, I'm used to dealing with dimwits." He shrugged and walked towards the door about to leave.

"I hear your insult loud and clear but I choose to ignore it, how big am I?" I shook my head and followed him. "Wait do you mean the army, as in before you became a vampire?"

"No." He kept walking.

"So you have an army?"

"If by _you,_ you mean us vampires then we most certainly do. You've seen how foul tempered we are, an army, police force, is kind of necessary. Especially for the newly turned." He kept walking so I had to run to keep up.

"Do you miss it?"

"What?" Surprised he turned towards me.

"The way you're talking about it sounds like you are no longer working there, do you miss it?"

"I-" Thor's eyes focused on something very far away, a memory he'd probably pushed deep within himself.

I heard a vicious snarl in my head then, sounding more like an animal than a human.

"Did you hear that?" I turned to Thor who gave me a puzzled look then something dawned on him and he smiled.

"I believe your lover has found out you're hanging out with me."

"Why can I hear him? I locked the door." I was confused.

"First of all you need to focus on keeping that door locked."

"All the time? That sounds exhausting."

"You get used to it. Secondly today you've learned the basics to shut your mind, that doesn't stop anyone from putting images or words in your head. You've only shut the ability to listen to your thoughts."

"Oh." Then I remembered what he had said about Sky. "He is _not_ my lover." I shot Thor an angry look.

"Riight. Tell him that." Thor disappeared in front of me, with a smug smile on his face.


	15. Chapter 14 A girl's gotta eat

_Hello again! You might wonder why I'm so slow at updating? Well, I just can't really seem to get the story to go where I want to -it has a life of it's own. I realise I probably confuse you all -sorry about that- but I'll go over it again when I'm done (which will take a while..) Thnx for reviews xD such an awesome feeling knowing I'm not alone ;) I realise this chapter might seem out of the blue -I just really wanted to update it. Please give me your thoughts about it! _

_Merry Xmas to you all!_

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Chapter 14**** Food**

I heard the bell ring and put on my comfy rabbit slippers and walked out of my room. I realize I haven't mentioned the food here -for us humans that is. The bell rings three times a day telling when the big meals are served. However, if one feels peckish other times of the day it's only to go and grab a bite yourself. My eating habits had kind of gotten out of hand since I came here. I often forgot to eat, though with my training now Thor kept nagging about the importance of sustaining my Energy, he was right of course.

------------------

I arrived in the big dining room and looked around. It felt a bit awkward being around all these people who I had no idea who they were. I'd never been the overly social type, and I rarely hung out with fellow humans. How sad didn't that sound?

I looked around me and got the overhanging feeling of being in high school. I could easily pick out the popular ones; girls with flashy clothes, make up and high supposedly enthralling laughs. Enthralling my ass… The eccentric ones, who actually did fit in more in this place than I guess they ever did in high school, after all gothic and vampires sort of came hand in hand. The sporty guys, the nerds; probably worked with the website and accounting of the place. Honestly, I've never been to an "All American High", seen plenty of movies though to grasp the scenery. Here people where a bit older, but the same smell of insecurity and necessity to prove ones worth hung thick in the air. Come to think of it; no wonder people felt insecure here, in the middle of a huge vampire den, who wouldn't?

So the room consisted of two long tables and a smaller one where the food was, buffet style. The aroma of the hot food tickled my nostrils. The smell was divine. It seemed like ages since I'd had a properly warm meal. I took a plate and started filling up my dish. I saw the "Barbie's" shake their heads disapprovingly of my appetite. I stifled a laugh. It was common sense to boost up on Energy amidst blood suckers; hadn't they gotten some sort of manual starting work here? I turned towards the tables and sighed, where to sit. The recluse I felt I found a spot at the end of one of the tables, sat down and was about to dig in.

"This is my spot."

I looked up to see the "Princess" wrinkling her nose at me. Grown ups behaving like this, what a world we live in. I ignored her and started eating.

"Didn't you hear me?" Her shrill voice silenced the room.

"Who _didn't_ hear you?" I grumbled and kept my head low, eating. I knew how to stay out of trouble, usually didn't work but I had to try.

"What a smart ass the new one is" one of the Sporty guys said laying an arm around the Princess.

"You people aren't for real." I shook my head.

"What did you say?" I could hear their tiny brain cells ticking away, trying to figure out if I'd insulted them or not.

"I'm here to get some food and then I'll leave. I suggest you do the same." I said calmly, still avoiding looking at them, because against better knowledge my eyes were responding to the situation and I didn't need them to see what a freak I really was.

"Don't you tell us what to do" The guy with few –if any, brain cells spat out.

I sensed their tiny versions of the Energy build up in them and laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"How pathetic you really are." Damn it, had I really said that out loud?

The guy's fist flexed, yeah I guess I had.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot. It's been a long day, let's eat and forget it." Hey look at how diplomatic I could be.

"You really think we'd let it slide that you called us pathetic?" The Barbies' and Jocks grouped together.

I sighed, guess not.

"Hey, leave her be or I'll turn you into something slimy and disgusting." One of the gothic girls stood up, left her seat and sat down opposite of me.

Wow, guess this is what friendship is like. I curiously studied her.

"This isn't over" the Princess bit back at me, and then they left to find their own seats, luckily far away from me.

My eyes were a bit abnormally green, but not insanely so.

"Call me Tess." She nodded at me, ready to leave.

"Hang on, Tess. Why did they listen to you, if you don't mind me asking."

Her eyes met mine, bored and tired.

"They know I never lie."

"What?"

"Girl, you are slow." She sighed and pulled her fingers through her short blue hair. "Let's just say I've got some powers of my own." She smiled to herself, a private joke of some sort.

I smiled back. "Yeah I know what that feels like."

She raised a questioning eyebrow at me, curiosity in her eyes now. "You've got powers? Why didn't you use them?"

"Well, I save them for when it's necessary." I shrugged.

"Chicken."

"Hah, yeah, thanks." I stuck my tongue out at her. Then we both chuckled.

"So are we like friends?"

She narrowed her eyes at me. "Depends, what you mean by friends."

"I have no idea, never had any." I shrugged, not sounding sad simply being honest, which she seemed to understand.

"Sure, you're weird enough."

-------------------

The doors slammed open and a waiter came in holding a silver plate with a white note upon it. He stopped next to me and bowed. The Barbies' shot angry stares at me.

I kept eating, so Tess took the note for me, she handed it to me without reading it but I refrained from taking it.

"I don't think I want to read it." I guessed who it was from, but on my agenda for tonight was eating and relaxing. Nothing else.

Somebody snatched the note and read it out lout. "_Come"_

"Your lover seems to speak a lot." The girls giggled. Giggled? I moaned inwardly, would they please grow up!

"Lover? Oh he wished." I said frustrated. The waiter was still hovering nearby.

"What?" I snapped at him.

"The Master awaits you in his quarters Miss."

The way he said Master caused the rest of the room to give each other suspicious and confused looks.

"If it's who I think it is" Tess began slowly "I really think you should leave asap. From what I hear he really doesn't like to wait."

I was about to say something about what I thought he could do with this note, when I clenched my teeth. Tess was right. And I'd had enough from this crowd anyways.

"You might be right. See you when I do." I winked at Tess, stood up and brought the plate with me.

------------------

I stomped all the way to his door, fuming outside it. What right did he have to order me about? None whatsoever. Yet here I was, answering to his beck and call.

_Yes here you are, so you might as well step inside._

Oh crap, I thought desperately about a door but too many things were twirling around in my head for me to be able to focus enough. To hell with it all. With my plate of food in front of me I pushed the door open and stepped in.

Sky was sitting in an armchair across the room, his fingertips against each other, he appeared to be calm. I knew better; I felt his Energy in the room, chilling it several degrees.

His eyes were so light blue it hurt to look into them. I felt silly standing in the middle of the room with a plate in my hand.

_Sit._

"So you're not even going to talk to me?"

_Sit._

A chair was suddenly behind me, I looked around but couldn't see anybody else around. Where had the chair come from?

_I told you to sit._

A gush of wind pushed me down into the seat.

"Hey!" I snapped at him trying to stand up, unsuccessfully. It was as if I'd been strapped to the chair, invisibly so.

"What the hell?" I started fighting against it, frustrated at the weakness I felt.

_You brought a snack?_ He chuckled at me, the plate suddenly being in his hand.

The room felt cold and tense. The lurking darkness tried to overpower my mind. I took a deep breath to calm myself, trying to at least.

"What do you want Sky?"

He didn't answer me he just sat there staring at me.

The fear had a tight grip on me, I didn't remember ever feeling this scared. Thinking it over it didn't really make sense; I had no reason to be afraid. It couldn't be entirely due to my own feelings; of course he did put me at unease with his sudden character change and constant mood swings, but I knew there was something else…

"Are you putting the fear inside me?" I felt chocked, why would he do this to me? I thought he liked me, it didn't make sense. I shook my head trying to rid it of the foreign unwelcome and intrusive emotion.

_Aren't you scared?_ He even managed to make it sound like a threat.

I took another deep breath and closed my eyes. What had Thor and I been talking about?

_Thor._ If I thought he sounded menacing before, he sounded just about ready to kill now.

I found the door and willed it close, quickly locked it with my key which I hung around my neck.

_Fascinating._

Right, now I only needed to block out his intrusion. I tried to focus on the reality; I was sitting in a chair, bound. No, hang on; I wasn't really bound, that was a part of his trick. There were no straps, as I thought that to myself I felt the invisible straps slacken. That's it! It was all a mind trick! Slowly I peeled of the layers of his power on me until I could stand up.

_Impressive._

Still the cold assertiveness in his voice, but there was something else as well, he sounded sad.

The strange and idiotic feeling of wanting to comfort him overtook me again, like it had done in the beginning when I met him. Deep down in his eyes he looked so vulnerable, just like a little boy.

I started walking towards him with carefully deliberate steps. When I was so close I could reach out and touch him I noticed the confusion displayed in his eyes. I couldn't help but smile at him.

I reached out a hand and pushed back the hair that fell across his face. The second my thumb stroke his chin the room switched from ice cold to sizzling warm. His eyes started burning with a golden fire.

"How the hell did you do that?" Sky pushed away from me and took a few steps back, staring at me incredulously.

"I- I have no idea." I had used a lot of energy to break his spell, but I didn't feel tired at all. Strange.

He gave me a guarded look as he got his emotions under control.

"Seriously though, why did you call for me?"

He seemed momentarily lost before he collected his thoughts.

"I was angry." He paused. "I think."

"You think? What's that supposed to mean? You summon me here, against my will might I point out, treat me like crap, because you _think_ you are angry?" Green flashes shot out from my eyes.

"It's hard to explain." He at least had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Try." I strolled back to my chair and demonstratively sat down.

He surprised me by walking towards me and kneeling in front of me.

"I'm the Master here."

"Yeah, I've sort of noticed that." I rolled my eyes.

"Being a Master Vampire, you know what that means?"

"You've got the flashiest powers around, yes I get that."

"I'm not proud of them, but they tend to run amuck when my feelings do. Normally I am possessive-"

"No shit" I mumbled.

He shot me an annoyed glare. "- but with you, I just seem to loose it." He sighed and stood up, taking a turn in the room.

"I noticed how recently you hang out with Thor a lot, and that can only mean one thing. That you want to hurt me, one way or another."

I gulped, it sounded so menacing when he put it that way.

"Well actually I-"

He held up a hand to silence me. "I guess I deserve it, from you though, not him." I saw the sparks of fury pass in his now cool, blue eyes.

"I guess I felt..." he silenced at a loss for words.

"Jealous?" I helped.

I saw the battle within him, would he confess to that?

_If I kissed Mina-_

"Then I'd kick your ass, and hers, -probably hers first since you might kill me." I answered without thinking.

"Then yes, I was jealous."

I felt a joy stir within me, he confessed!

_Only because you said it first._

My hands searched around my neck but the key was gone leaving the door to my mind wide open again. I sighed; this took so much more than I'd expected.

"So you're point is?"

He walked closer, with a hand he pulled me up against him. "I'm sorry for my rudeness."

He let his lips lightly brush against mine.

"Is that all I get after this whole ordeal? You suck at apologizing." My legs were wobbly but he didn't need to know that. I take that back; of course he already knew that. Other wise my insanely fast-beating heart would have given me away.

His throaty laugh caused me to shudder, it wasn't from fear though.

"You are right, let me try again."

His lips crashed against mine, pulling and teasing. Demanding me to open my mouth and let him in. I moaned and acquiesced. My hands went into his hair stroking his silky waves.

------------------

I felt him letting go. Don't stop, I thought over and over again.

He chuckled again and gently kissed my forehead before putting some distance between us, still holding me in his arms though.

"Easy tiger." He winked at me.

"Time to be rational again?" I sighed. "I guess you're right. So I go back to being pissed off at you and you go back to ignoring me. Perfect, well if that was all I'm going to go reheat my food." I took one step away before he swiftly pulled me back against his toned chest.

"I didn't say that. In fact I'm tired of our plan A, let's try plan B."

"What's plan B?" I raised a questioning eyebrow at him.

"I have an experiment I want to try."

"Right…?"

"Spend the night with me."

Did he just throw my own words back at me? His chuckling reply was answer enough. Alright, what had he planned this time?

His slender finger gently stroke along my jaw.

_I'm hungry…_


	16. Chapter 15 A soft bed

_I'm so sorry for the delay, and this chapter is really a rather poor one but for once I am around (have a bad cold) and have time to sit down and write. I have plans for the next two chapters but this one is a bridge to reach them, sort of. Thnx a million for the reviews, it makes one wish I had a better story for you, but ah well, it is what it is at the moment. =)_

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"Too bad for you, I'm also hungry. You interrupted in the middle of my food session."

"Jeez you get cranky without food." He wrinkled his nose at me.

"As a matter of fact I do. And don't you dare ask me if it's that time of the month."

"I wouldn't have to ask." He gave me a smug smile. The bastard.

"Actually I wasn't referring to that kind of hunger though…" His finger traced circles on the bare spot above my shoulder.

"Fancy that. Sorry to break your plans, but I _am_ hungry." I gently put a hand against his chest and pushed him backwards. "I need to reheat this, so if you were done behaving all psycho towards me, I'll be leaving." I stood up, snatched the plate from him and got ready to wind my way back down to the kitchen and the micro wave.

"Always the funny one" he chuckled at me. "Of course you shall eat, allow me to be of assistance." He snapped his fingers and a man appeared in front of us, reaching for my plate. I held on to it, refusing to relinquish it.

"Hey, grab your own food" I snarled.

"Give it to him." Sky gave me an amused look.

"No, it's mine." I said through clenched teeth.

"He is just going to heat it for you, and then he will bring it back. It's not so bad having servants is it?" Sky winked at me. I reluctantly let go of the plate.

"Right away Master." With the blink of an eye the man was gone, along with my food.

Not holding anything I felt a bit lost. I was standing in the middle of the room fiddling with the end of my shirt.

_Eager to take it off?_ A sensuous smile spread on his lips.

I gave him a murderous glance as a silent reply and immediately ceased fiddling.

He leaned against the wall and let his eyes slowly roam over my body. An involuntary blush crept onto my cheeks.

"You have me at an advantage you know."

I silently waited for him to go on, I knew he would.

"You've seen all of me…" The shower incident popped into my head and my blush grew darker.

"Yeah well keep wishing." I tried to sound confidently uninterested. We both knew I failed miserably.

_Oh I do._

There was a silent knock on the door and my food was delivered to me. Talk about speed delivery.

Sky pulled out a chair for me next to a dining table I hadn't even realised was there. Carefully I neared him and slipped into the seat.

After the first chew I remembered how hungry I was and practically gulfed down the whole plate. When I was done I heard a soft laugh and looked up. The perfect predator's eyes followed my every move.

"Did you stare at me while I was eating? You're a freak, you know that right?" I shook my head trying to get rid of the creepy feeling.

"Let's get down to business. Why am I still here?" I was tired of his cat and mouse game.

"I told you, you are to remain in here with me." He gave me a seductive smile, causing me to gulp for air.

"Shall I show you my spacious bed room?" In a fluid movement he stood motioning me to another door in the room.

"Thanks, I'm good." I faked a yawn. "Darn, I'm rather tired so I think I'll just-"

"Guess you want to see the bed then."

I felt slight panic. I really didn't want to see the bed. Or maybe I panicked because of the opposite?

I cautiously followed him into his room. Whoa; that's one helluva King sized bed.

Sky winked at me. It looked so soft…must be one of those that cost a fortune.

I sat down on it, at the very edge. When my body touched it I felt like I had died and gone to heaven, sitting on a soft cloud. I threw myself on the bed and spread out.

"I could live with this" I mumbled as sleep overcame me.

* * *

"So you kissed and made up?" Thor's bored voice reached across our training room.

"No!" I hissed. He does have a soft bed though…

Really?

I felt easily irritable today, even though I hadn't slept so well in ages. When I woke up Sky was gone, I had still been wearing all my clothes so I trusted nothing had happened. Probably I had said things in my sleep –since I usually do, though hopefully nothing too embarrassing.

I slammed the door to my mind shut and locked it, this time focusing on keeping the key. For the next hour Thor tried to trick me out of it, unsuccessfully so.

"Excellent, apparently you're not as thick headed as I had you down for."

I gave him a smile. "I take that as a compliment."

He shrugged and got ready to leave, then he paused and turned towards me again. "Let's celebrate your progress, I'll buy you a drink."

His offer caught me completely off guard; it seemed too generous to be coming from him, he must have some ulterior motive… I felt embarrassed for my cynicism; after all he was helping me out. The least I could do was take a drink with him.

"Sure, but I don't dance."

"I wasn't asking." He said in defence.

"I'm just warning you."

---------------

A bad idea, no, it was a terrible idea. I must have known from the start what a terrible idea it was, yet I still went with him. I wasn't working until closing hours that night, so Thor bought me a drink when my shift ended. He guided me to one of the tables I usually served and even pulled out the chair for me. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I guess you're not that kind of girl, are you?" He relinquished the chair and sat himself down in it. I took the other chair and sat at the far end of it.

"No I'm not. I'm strong enough to pull out my own chair, but thank you for your concern." I rolled my eyes at him and took a sip of my drink.

Thor raised his hands in defence. "Pardon me milady, I might be a bit rusty in how to behave towards young ladies of today."

"An excuse from you? I am shocked _sir_."

"Are you playing coy with me milady?" Thor added a fake Scottish accent to his speech, drawing a smile from me.

"You can be rather nice".

"Civilised you mean? Like your lover-boy?"

"Will you stop that?" Slightly annoyed I took another sip from my drink. Sky's blue eyes suddenly overtook my senses, his closeness, his smell…

Pray tell me, what does he smell like? Roses? No, something more masculine perhaps…

"Oh shut up" I mumbled hiding under my hair that fell in front of my face. He chuckled since he easily sensed my on creeping blush.

"You better lock the door luv or he will hear your love confession from across the room." Thor gave me a warning look, the Scottish r's still rolling off his tongue.

"Right, thanks for the heads up."

I felt Sky's ice cold stare chill the bones of my back. He was here, but what else had I expected? I slowly turned around facing him, his eyes chilling my insides.

"Enjoying yourself?" His voice was devoid of feelings, it hurt hearing it. I was confussed -what had happened, what had changed?

I carefully searched in his eyes for any resemblance of the man from last night. But all I saw was the fire of ice which burnt for the man he hated, the man I was training with, the man I was now sitting across from. All that existed this minute was hate, a burning hate.

"I believe she was, that is until you showed up." Thor's bored, teasing voice spoke up in between our silence.

"Having fun with you? Hardly likely." Sky bit back. "If you have time to frolic with the guests I guess you're not working hard enough. I shall speak with Bastian, I'm sure there are other assignments for you." He kept eye contact with Thor during his speech to me, then he left, dismissing us both.

Chapter 15 A soft bed


	17. Chapter 16 The powerdrug

_Still home sick so figured I might as well update again ;) As always I feel the control of this story out of hand, but I'm growing tired of it so I let it roam free a bit. Reviews are still very appreciated =)_

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Chapter 16**** Power drug**

I took a deep breath and kept the steady rhythm of push ups. My muscles were aching, screaming at my mind to stop. When I'm determined, well what can I say; I am. I was tired of Thor's constant remarks of how weak I was, most of all I was tired of how right he was. I had been slacking off, especially since I came to the Gilded Blood. Here of all places I couldn't afford to be just another weak human. Not among the creatures of the night. True, I could never get as strong as them but I had to stay active at least and push my mortal limits.

The more I exercised the stronger I felt my Energy within me. To keep up I had to eat almost like a rugby player which meant I'd spent more time in the food court for us humans.. I'd met my new friend Tess a few more times; the word friend was strange to utter. We didn't see each other that often but when we did we'd smile smugly at each other. The Barbies' and jocks let me be –guess they'd heard who was watching over me. Messing with the Master didn't seem wise.

I forced my mind back to focus on the training. I ground my teeth; one more, two more, three… I collapsed on the wood floor breathing heavily.

"Need a hand?" Jonah's cheery voice reached me.

I was too tired to speak so I shook my head. I couldn't even contemplate getting up.

"Alright, but I came to fetch you. Thor found another room you could practice in."

Finally some good news. Sky kept closing off our training spaces so we constantly had to find other ones. When he'd threatened to give me more work, well he hadn't been joking.

"I don't like sneaking behind Master's back like this" the sad worry in Jonah's voice made me twinge. I didn't like it anymore than he did (Thor though was immensely enjoying it all) however it was necessary. Sky's schizo behaviour annoyed me. He approved and encouraged the idea of me learning control of my Energy (though who wouldn't, me being a ticking bomb…), though he still went out of his way to make it difficult for me and Thor to actually train. My workload kept increasing until Zarah –after hearing it from Bastian, gently but firmly put her foot down. I was a wreck for weeks until Sky grumpily agreed it was too much. Now he kept closing off rooms for us. His burning glares at Thor and his possessive behaviour towards me were getting too much. We would have a sweet moment and then the anger would rise within him again. He almost acted like _he_ wanted to be my mentor; but how could he with the bar and being Master and all? Sometimes people just don't think. Plus if he were my trainer I wonder how much training we'd actually be doing; or if we'd just jump each other all the time. I'd already proven beyond weak around him, which is why I now avoided him as much as possible. With all the training and working I didn't have time for temptations. My body started tingling at the mere thought of his firm chest… I swore and made another push-up, collapsing once more.

"Are you insane girl?" Jonah helped me sit up, giving me a disapproving glare.

"Come Thor is waiting."

Neither of us cared if Thor waited, though we'd better hurry with the lesson before my work-shift started –which was drawing closer.

"Can you help me up?"

Jonah smilingly reached for my hand and swiftly pulled me up to my feet. I tried to return the smile, but my tired body couldn't quite make it.

"Come on Tiger, let's go" Jonah winked at me and with a supporting arm around my shoulder pulled me out of my room.

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I landed on my back, again. What's that saying –third time's a charm? Whatever. Clearly my back did _not_ agree.

"Where's your focus?" Thor groaned.

"Hey, I'm beat." I wanted nothing else but to jump back on my feet again, this time it seemed impossible though. I remained on my back, longing for the comfort of my bed.

Thor sighed. "I'm glad you work-out, but you should refrain from exhausting your mind at the same time, always pushing the limits, -leave that part up to me" he grinned.

I grunted back at him.

"Let's call it a day here. You're useless to me when in this unfocused state."

"Always the smooth-talker" I said sarcastically, bringing out a chuckle from him.

He narrowed his eyes as he watched me fighting hard to sit up, breathing heavily.

"I do not think you can work today, kiddo."

"I have to." I meant it, I never took work lightly, never had and never would.

Having to fend for myself early in life had taught me to respect a job and do my best to keep it. Wandering about poor and hungry; it's reoccurrence was my worst nightmare. Up there with being eaten of course, ironic?

Thor gave me a sceptical look, but I was firm in this matter. "I'm fine." I moved my left arm and bit down on my lips to stop the scream that was ready to burst out.

"If that's how you feel"

"It is" I forced out between clenched teeth.

"-then what you need is an antidote, and there's only one that works quick enough." He paused, having my full attention. "Vampire blood."

"No way!" I had tried it once, from Angel, and it had scared the crap out of me. I've never taken drugs but I guess this was similar. As it had rushed through my veins I had felt like superman, no I didn't just feel it –I _was_ superman, or a relative of his. When it wore off I'd slept a whole day –slept like the dead. And I had only had a few drops –the potency was more than fierce.

Thor kept talking, ignoring my panicked reply and my eyes clouded of reminiscing moments.

"-There's only one who has authority enough to offer it to you." He let the words sank in. The past left me for a moment, and I grasped his intentions.

"Never! I'm alright, see?" I stood up, only to immediately fall back down again, hard.

"You're peachy alright" he muttered to himself.

What scared me the most right now was the tiny insignificant part within me which agreed with Thor; I needed some sort of magical drug if I wanted to do anything else but lie down the next 12 hours. While I fought to get up, the sneaky bastard went behind my back. The only way to explain how come Sky was suddenly standing over me was that Thor had gone against my wish, no demand, and called for Sky with his mind. The bastard.

"You look terrible" Sky said, poker face in place. His words sounded a bit strained though, nothing compared to the anger in mine.

"I'm great."

"Aren't you supposed to work" he glanced at his watch "in 20 minutes?"

"I am and I will, don't worry _boss_." I ground my teeth.

"Not like this you're not." The authoritative tone was loud and clear in his voice; well screw him.

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"You powered through, heard you were tired from Thor, but you seemed speeded all night, good job" Bastian gave me one of his rare approving nods before going to his quarters. He was right, but I didn't see how it could be. I remembered the achy feeling, but it was completely gone. How? I felt as good as new; hang on. I felt better than new, yet that should not be possible. Why was I suddenly eager to work more hours or do a hundred more push-ups, at least? I knew there were no answers to be found in my head. Before I tried hunting down anyone who might provide them, I needed to go through the cash register and give the money to Louise. Louise is the woman who takes care of the bank issues here. There's a certain calmness in counting money, -watching bill after bill rapidly pass between my fingers as I flipped through the several piles. It all added up, as usual. (You would have to be a pro bank-robber –no better, to cheat creatures of the night of their money. Or really stupid.)

The bills went into the silver bag and I was ready to hand it over to Louse. Her hand shot out in the dark startling me. Louise's powerful gift was being able to blend in anywhere; the perfect ability for the treasurer and head guard. Then she disappeared in a flash.

With my up-built Energy I started thoroughly sweeping the tables, followed by arranging all the drinking glasses in the cupboards. This part of work didn't fall under my title, however it seemed like a waste to lay in bed and stare at the roof for hours when I could do something. When I was done I decided to check the farther east side of the place. There were a lot of cosy rooms there which I avoided during open hours. I noticed there was a light on in one of the conference rooms where Sky usually had important guests. As I walked closer I saw the door was open, through which two voices drifted out. I knew it was none of my business, and it wasn't uncommon for Sky to entertain the high and mighty after we had closed, yet something drew me closer. It was a woman I realised then who was the important guest, and she was stunningly beautiful. Exotic tanned skin, curly voluptuous hair with long slender legs. Her seductive laugh arose the fighting spirit within me; my nails where eager to claw her pretty amber eyes out.

_Cassie?_

I slammed the door shut to my mind a second too late. Crap, crap, crap!

It wasn't hearing her laugh which had been the worst but the sparkling attention in Sky's eyes that made me want to scream. I was ready to flee when Sky opened the door.

"Cassie?"

I forced a tight smile on my lips as I turned towards them.

"What are you doing still up?" Sky gave me a questioning look.

"Oh, just checking to see everything's alright."

The goddess gave me a sour look then turned back to Sky. "Your subordinates don't really show you a lot of respect. I would be glad to influence her for you."

The way she said _influence_ gave me goose bumps. She put a possessive hand on his arm, a hint directed towards me I'm sure. I was all game for a fight, especially one tilted in the opponents favour. In a way I thirsted for blood shedding; not because I wanted the blood in itself but if I could even bring a scratch upon her flawless face for just a second I'd happily end up in the infirmary. Who said I always play nice? Yet if I tell you I've always been a pacifist at heart…would you believe me? Sky was really bad influence on me…

"I appreciate your offer Diane, yet I unfortunately have to decline." Sky sounded bored, matching the look his blue eyes gave me. "Humans, especially recently hired, are hopeless with hierarchy. She'll come around I'm sure." With that he dismissed me. "You may leave now."

Suddenly I longed for the comfort of my bed. While I rushed down the steps to my room I pondered the feelings in turmoil within me. What angered me the most was the tender feelings my stupid heart seemed to hold for him. Why did I have to care what he thought? Then I remembered how he'd honed up to feeling jealous of all the time I spent with Thor –something I could play to my advantage. He would pay, big time. Like I mentioned –who said I always play nice?


	18. Chapter 17 Sky's POV

_Long time no see, sorry about that. Big thnx for all the reviews =) I need to get on with the story, so bare with me =) (Special thnx to Chiara Diavollo ;))_

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**Chapter 17**** Sky's POV**

My eyes narrowed as I was watching her. She seemed happier these past couple of days. She avoided and ignored me completely though which upset me more than I'd care to confess. I was a Master goddammit. Some girl couldn't just waltz in here and turn my head upside down…or my heart inside out. Yuck, sleazy, I shuddered.

Her laughter swept across the vast room and rang beautifully in my ears. Yet that was all I could percieve. No more of her sweet, confusing, lovely, funny thoughts slipped inside my head. I missed it, more than I should admit to.

I took a deep breath, tasting her sweet jasmine scent which reached my nose wherever I went. She was driving me insane. The only bit of fun I'd had recently was when she'd cast me jealous glares after I had been talking to a customer, a very attractive woman, not my type though, no one was except for… I scolded myself. I had even flirted with the customer, not that I had really paid any attention to her whatsoever. All I could think of was the incinerating stare Cassie gave me and the evil grin it put on my face. We could be two at this game, which she promptly showed me tonight while flirting with Thor of all people.

I knew he was helping her mastering her powers, a good cause which had stunned me at first. Thor rarely if ever did selfless deeds. The explanation must lie along the lines of Thor being a warrior and therefore seeing the dangers of Cassies uncontrollable powers, plus the potentials of having her on our side in the upcoming war. A war we'd been avoiding for long, the question is how much longer we could keep it up.

I'd momentarily lost myself in my thoughts, but Cassie's sweet seductive laugh threw me back in time and place. I desperately wanted, I needed, that smile to be shining on me. Not him. I felt the evil beast within me roar selfishly. My eyes locked on her; the beautiful siren. Mine.

When she leaned close to him, and nearly touched his skin with her soft lips, I'd had enough. I flew up and shot murdering glares while pointing my cold finger at him.

"Thor I challenge you."

It turned dead silent in the room.

"Did you hear me?" I roared, eager to rip something apart.

Thor slowly rose.

"On what ground?" His blatant disinterest increased my fury.

"You're asking me? Do not play dumb with _me_. You know me better than anyone else, you're the only one who-, and yet you-" I was so furious I could barely speak. I'd never been this upset since I lost my sister. No, actually I'd never been this upset. He had been my best friend, my only friend, which was why his betrayal was still a sore and vivid memory. My beautiful sister...

"I don't know what you're talking about, but, if it'll make you feel better go ahead and strike me." Thor's bored voice reached my ears while he slowly walked closer. "I know you've wanted to for a long time." He turned his chin towards me, urging me on. I made my right hand into a fist. My hand was itching to smack the sunsets out of him.

Cassie stood up then and placed herself in front of Thor, shielding him. A human protecting a beast from another?

"How pathetic Thor, you need your lover to protect you?" I sneered at him.

"Are you BLIND?" Cassie stomped towards me, her furious stare matching mine. "How could he possibly be my lover? True he has been nice to me, helped me when I needed it."

"How sweet" my tone drenched in sarcasm.

"Oh shut up. No one asked for your opinion. You dumb, slow minded, teasing beast of a man."

"Is that the worst you could come up with?" Lazily I raised an eyebrow -I managed to stay nonchanlant on the outside while my insides were boiling; an Academy Award winning performance no doubt.

"No, you-"

I didn't need to be able to read her mind to understand what she thought of me this very minute; her facial expression said it all.

"Thank you, that's quite enough from you. Now step aside and let me and your lover handle this."

"Are you deaf and blind? He is _not_, I repeat, not, my lover. Why would I possibly want a nice man like him when there's a brute beast like yourself around." Irony sizzled off her tone.

"Ouch" Thor said.

We both slowly turned our eyes towards him.

"Do carry on." He stepped further away.

We ignored him, our emotions an equal match of anger and hurt.

Eventually the initial screaming and name-calling stopped; the angry flame inside me was burning up and a hint of exhaustion displayed around Cassie's eyes.

"Would you just kiss and make up already?" Thor faked a yawn.

"Shut up" we both screamed, so angry we didn't see clear.

She took a deep breath, shaking from anger. Her eyes, her beautiful emerald pools, shone with a strong light. She was angry, true, but there was something else as well. She was, worried? I probed around the emotions flooding from her.

My fighting spirits disappeared quicker than they had arrived as it dawned on me; she loved him so much she was worried. Deep down I'd always felt I didn't deserve her, was I really that surprised she picked someone else over me? I sighed.

"No you are right; a challenge is not in place here. But how do we resolve this problem?" I turned away from the beautiful green. I knew I had to leave her be. I started walking away.

"Stop." I heard her voice, even though it was but a faint whisper and drenched in sobs, I heard it. I listened with my whole being for the continuation.

"Don't go." The pain in her voice made me turn towards her. I felt a sudden urge to see her eyes, the mirror of one's soul.

"I swore I would never let anyone matter more to me than I do myself." She pressed out between sobs. "But I can't stop myself to listen to reason. If you go-" she fell to the floor.

"Cassie?" I rushed to her side.

"When your mind turns dark, I hurt. When you walk away, I break." She whispered, her eyes closed from exhaustion of what seemed like a battle within her. "Sorry about the cheesiness, I guess there lives a small poet within me." A small smile briefly passed her lips. I relaxed a bit; she was still facetious which ought to be a good sign.

I gently stroked her face. "I'm not going anywhere." My fingertips instantly turned warm when touching her skin. It was a warmth that spread from within.

"You've bonded."

Mina's accusing voice rang out loud in the silent room.

"Pardon?" I turned a brief exasperated look towards the newcomer.

"You can never truly live without the other now." Mina continued.

"Are you sure?" Bastian gave her a nervous glance.

"Trust me -I wish I wasn't. I have read a lot about it, wondering how to bond you to _me_." She had the decency to look embarrassed when her eyes met mine. "I realise now that on some level you two were made for each other." She nodded as if to confirm it to herself.

"How does the bond work?" Thor looked between me and Cassie then back at Mina.

"When you've sampled each other's blood three times each it is forged."

"Clearly you must be mistaken then, I've only tasted her twice." I said.

"And I've never…"

The following silence spoke for itself. Now _I_ felt embarrassed, which Cassie immediately picked up.

"I have? When?" The strength flooded back into her voice.

I'd hoped this conversation would never have to take place. Evidently I was wrong.

"When you had exhausted yourself from the training and insisted on working..." I began.

"So that's why, I thought you seemed high on something." Bastian interjected.

"I just gave you a few drops." I quickly added.

Silently I awaited her reaction, watching the battle of emotions on her face.

"Was it good?"

Her question threw me off.

"Honey if you have to ask if the sex was good, it can't really have been that-"

"Shut up Thor" I snarled.

Cassie blushed. "Obviously I meant the blood."

"You seemed to think so." I wasn't sure how to best answer her, what she wanted to hear.

Cassie stood up and dried her tears with the back of her hand. "Let me see if I got this straight." She turned her back on me and started walking away. Each step that brought us further apart increased the anguish, sorrow and darkness I felt within. Until it was close to unbearable. Then she stopped. I could feel the tears slowly roll down her cheeks; it must be due to the bond.

We both turned to Mina.

"So we can never be separated again?" Cassie asked.

The mere implication brought me pain as if someone was stabbing me in the chest after which the knife was twisted. From her gasp I realised it hurt her just as much.

"As long as the bond is intact, no. Maybe when you've entirely sealed it it'll be stronger. I'd say when your feelings are clearer you will be stronger both separately and together."

"Wow Mina, I've never heard you make so much sense before." Jonah teased, enlightening the mood of us all.

"Come on, let's leave the love birds alone." Thor scooted everybody ahead of him out of the room and winked at me as he passed me.

"So" she said.

"So" I said.


	19. Chapter 18 Icy encounters

_**AN: Hello, long time no see! (Completely my fault, I know) I'd written quite a lot and then I lost it all, I know the ending it's just how to get there that's the tricky part. I feel the characters slipping away from my original plan as well...which is why I havent wanted to write.  
For once I felt inspired to write today, so I did. Should probably reread it lots of times before posting it here yet need to study so then it will take forever.  
About that, anyone knows how the beta reader thing works? Would be nice to have someone to bounce ideas off so if anyones interested please send me a message. Well, take care and happy readings! (Oh feel free to review ;))**_

**Chapter 18**

"You are beautiful." He said, staring at me across the room.

"Nice try fancy pants; you gave me your blood."

He grunted. "Figures you wouldn't be able to take a compliment. Secretly you like arguing, don't you?"

"Not particularly, but around you it's impossible to avoid" I said exasperated. "Why did you give me your blood?"

"You had pushed yourself too hard and needed a rest, which you of course refused. Therefore you collapsed, might I add your heart beat was very faint…and…fine, I panicked, alright? Is that what you want me to say? The big fearful vampire got scared?" He said angrily.

I almost had to bite my lip from smiling –fearful? It sounded a bit ridiculous, though of course why shouldn't they be able to be afraid? Hang on; why was he angry? What right did he have to-o give somebody their blood? And vampire blood was in fact like taking a drug –which I don't do. Of course I was pissed –he decided over my life! He took over the reins when I was out cold and did what he thought best. Best –hah!

"I thought I was losing you." The sudden outburst turned into desolation. "Can't you see my point of view?" he pleaded.

I pictured in my head the scenario of a man suddenly running in with a stake in his hand ready to take out, or should I say stake out, Sky. What would I have done? It's very possible that I would have jumped in between to stop it. Or at least I would have tried -if the attacker was a vampire I never could've stood a chance against their speed. Would I even have had time to react? And if it was a human he would've taken care of it himself. Wonder if he had like body guards, he should shouldn't he? Being the leader and all… I shook my head.

Sky chuckled at the scenarios playing inside my mind. His laughter was so sudden and sweet that I without noticing smiled.

"What, no reprimands for poking around inside your head?" He raised a teasing eyebrow at me.

"I agree with you; I'm also tired of arguing. Which is why I'm going to let this one slide."

I slowly stood up and walked towards Sky. With every step I came closer, a warm light spread within me banishing all dark and gloomy thoughts.

When we were in front of one another we reached out a hand each and touched the other's cheek. I inhaled his pine tree scent and sighed happily; it felt like coming home.

* * *

Cheesy? Well save your breath, it happens to the best. Amazingly enough we'd managed two days without fighting, the occasional bickering of course, though without steam coming out of our ears. One evening we'd sneaked a moment for ourselves.  
I realised I'd started feeling nervous around him, like a lovesick teenager confused by her first crush. Not remembering to cloud my mind Sky smiled at me and bent his head down leaning his cool forehead against mine. My heartbeat was accelerating until I thought it was going to explode –it must have sounded like the drummer in a rock band gone wild to his acute hearing.

"Sorry my lord to interrupt your moment but there's someone asking for Miss Celine, a very persistent inquirer might I add." Thor gave a mock bow. Not sure why I felt guilty but at the sound of his voice I jumped away, trying to act casual.

"After all the training and still a fool…" Thor sighed.

Before I could scowl back at him, Zarah showed up, by the look of Sky's face there was important business to attend to, thus our moment was gone.

"Fear not lovebirds more occasions shall probably arise". Thor made gagging sounds at the end. Sky had been on his way to give me a bear hug, but irked by Thor, and not against my willing, he pulled me in and roughly claimed my lips with his. So soft, and was that a taste of raspberries?

"For my benefit? Aw you guys." Thor rolled his eyes. Sky shot him a cold stare, me he gave a smoldering look with a hint of ownership. Not sure I agreed to that… but before I could work myself into a fit he was gone.

I shook my head, trying to rid it of silly thoughts.

Good look with that.

Goodee, he was still here.

"So who asked for me?" I turned my attention to Thor, shocked to see his facial expression so altered. Instead of his usual nonchalant, mocking stance he displayed fury and, was that fear?

He snarled, and I quickly blocked my mind.

"Nobody you know. Word of advice -do _not_ trust him."

"Why not?" I asked the wall where Thor had been the blink-of-an-eye ago. Hanging with vampires one ended up talking to walls quite a bit, or was it just me? I sighed and went to work, a bit confused though about Thor's total.

* * *

"Finally bartender, I'm in desperate need of a drink, and not beyond me to complain of the poor service around her. What's a guy to do to get a bit of attention in here?" The newcomer's voice was cold and distant, some would probably say dreamy –like all the girls pathetically pining around him now. I rolled my eyes at them –humans. The word was formed before I could stop it; guess my subconscious didn't add me to that category anymore, comforting to know. My focus went back to the handsome man in front of me. He must be really full of himself –always receiving this much attention. Even if Thor hadn't warned me to trust this man, I still would have frowned at him, there was something off about him. I couldn't quite put my finger on what yet.

"We have a variety of bottled alcoholic beverages" I stepped behind the counter and noticed Bastian release a tensed breath (he'd obviously been afraid I'd open my wrist to the guy) –who did he take me for? I do learn from my mistakes...Thor snorted… (mostly). I quickly locked my mind.

"Alcohol is always nice, though I had something more sustaining, metallic, in mind at the moment…"

"You want me to throw in a banana and some minerals?" I gave him a blank look –easily interpretable as a dumb look.

I watched his calculating eyes look me over, squint, then smile coldly.

"I see, he doesn't keep you about for your wit I gather." He winked at me –oh he so didn't just do that!

"Listen here, punk" I snarled at him –my eyes a green fury.

"I know what you are, you aren't that special in here. I know what drink –or well diet- you're on, we do have bags with it if that's the metallic you're searching for. Don't mistake me for some clueless girl you can just gobble down. Let me know when you've decided to be reasonable." I humphed, and turned my back on him, shaking with anger. On Bastian's face I thought I saw pride mixed with fear. Why were everybody so scared and of what?

A hand landed on my left shoulder and yanked me around. The stranger's face was inches away. In many ways he reminded me of Sky –the nose, forehead, curls –short trimmed on this guy –none of it held the same appeal though.

We stared at each other for a couple of minutes, a frown increasing on his forehead.

"Wondering why her pants aren't in a twist just from looking at you?" Thor's dry voice, filled with utter resentment, felt reassuring. My anger subsided for confusion –why did Thor hate him? Who was this guy?

"Who are you?"

"I am Isaiah."

The resemblance was striking…

Brothers? Shocked I looked more closely and realised it to be true. His real blood brother. Fancy that. There was a huge difference between them though. The coldness I'd momentarily felt from Sky when he was very upset was nothing compared to the ice his brother constantly evaporated.

"Hm, I feel a dilemma here" I confessed.

"What's that?" The charm was turned on the stranger's face.

"Normally the girlfriend should try hard to make the guy's family like her –"

"Girlfriend?" His cold smile widened.

"-however in this case I couldn't care less. I don't know how to sugarcoat it for you –but you are evil."

"There's evil in all of us who are damned." He replied.

I shook my head. "Yours is the real deal."

"Fascinating, this you can tell how exactly? Do enlighten me."

"It's in the air around you, in your chiselled face, but most of all I see it in your eyes; they're cold, like Ice."

Isaiah's laughter was sudden and short.

"You're nothing like Sky" I added peevish he'd laughed at me. Mentally I noted their resemblance in moody temperaments.

"Sky? Who's Sky?"

I wasn't sure how to explain, but he filled in the blanks.

"Are you talking about my kid brother? Did you come up with a pet name for him? Maybe you're not as dumb as I first though. Such a mellow name is quite suitable for him."

I sensed the Energy ignite within me, yet I fought to keep it restrained below the surface.

"His eyes remind me of the sky" Why was I explaining to him? "Your eyes are like ice." I tasted the name, yes it would do well. "You are Ice" I pointed at him.

"Are you telling me we've known each other five minutes and already you are handing out nicknames? I must have made quite the impression on you then."

Could a man sound fuller of himself I wondered, as I ignored him and went back to work.

Ice's fingers were drumming on the bar. Two minutes ticked by before I snapped.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Waltzing in here like you own the place." My annoyance was irked, I didn't really yell though wasn't far from it.

"I'm the older brother, here to claim what is rightfully mine from your Master."

My Master? The mere word struck a chord in me –paving the way for an outburst. My Energy already pumped up was relishing a possible release. Which Thor intercepted, of course. He gave me a look, wanting a private discussion in my head. Regretfully I unlocked the door to my mind, letting him in.

You need to calm down Cassie. Clearly Isaiah is here to cause trouble, but we mustn't make it easy on him.

Was there worry in his thoughts?

I am. You don't know about the past, not my place to tell you, thought the short version is Sky was wounded deeply. A riff between sibling which wont be healing any time soon. 

So what should we do?

We must tell him he's here. I'll tell him.

We looked over at the cold dead bastard, who was at the moment sipping from a drink Sebastian must have given him. As Thor sneaked off I continued working which not surprisingly led me back to the bar, and Ice.

"Hello again, couldn't stay away?" His eyes glimmered mischievously at me.

"Let me get this straight; are you flirting with me?"

"Do you want me to?"

"Hell no! I have one brute on my hands which is quite enough."

"Calling my brother a brute? How sweet."

I sighed, how to behave around this guy?

"Can I get you anything else?" I dutifully asked once his drink was empty.

"Anything else?"

"It's just a figure of speaking is all." I said between clenched teeth.

"Oh I got the not-a-blood-donor-speech before thank you very much, I'd considered something else."

I am so going to regret asking this but "what is that?"

"A dance." He grabbed my arm and hauled me into the air, putting his hands on either side of my waist he lifted me over the bar, spun me around graciously and put me down in front of him.

"No thank you." I took a step out of his closeness –his left hand sliding up to grab mine.

"I didn't make it a question."

"Yet I answered it. I'm working." I tried to shake off his hand, need I say without success.

"Don't be such a stiffy, I am sure my brother wont mind sharing you." He implicated a lot more than a dance. I couldn't help but laugh at his blatant flirting, did he really think I would fan over him like the rest in here?

He briefly narrowed his eyes before a seductive smile spread across his "godly" features.

He took a step closer, pushing me against the bar. My energy wanted to burst out, but my instincts told me to take it easy.

"You're in my personal space." I gruffed.

Completely ignoring me he leaned into me, sniffing my neck.

"But you are brothers" I didn't understand why he behaved like he did, did he want to hurt Sky?

"Have you never competed with a sibling over a price?"

"This is not a competition and I am most certainly not someone's price" I snarled at him, pulling more furiously at my hand.

With a hand under my chin he turned my face towards his.

"Oh but you are, quite a special one I'm sure."

"Get the hell off me!" A little burst of energy slipped out, pushing him a foot away.

He quickly disguised his bewildered look and reached out to stroke my chin.

"She told you to get away, do you never listen?" The room turned still, the brewing before the storm. Yet to me the voice spread a warmth within me, relaxing me. Sky.

"I only listen to what I want to hear." Ice nonchalantly lifted my hand to his mouth and kissed it. I finally managed to snatch back my hand and slapped him. Putting as much force I could muster in to my hand; I was still surprised to see his head turn to the side and the mark of my hand briefly leaving an impact on his fair skin. How could I've managed to hurt him? His nearly white eyes stared into mine, giving me goose bumps. Somehow upsetting this guy probably wouldn't be commemorated as one of my smartest moves.

_Cassie, step back._

"You need to discipline your pet" Isaiah's voice was pure ice.

Pet? Was he calling me a pet? Thor grabbed my arm and pulled me back before I could scratch the man's eyes out.

"Let me go" I snarled.

"My my, the kitten has claws." I nearly punched Thor while fighting to get out of his reach, green shade crept into my sight, making me forget my previous caution. A hand clasped down on my shoulder, it was soft yet emanating deadly powers, easing my anger and relaxing me -for now. Was this due to the bond Mina had been on about?

"Isaiah, to what do we owe this honour" Sky pulled me slowly to his side, shielding me.

"Dear brother" Isaiah held out his hand as if ready for a welcoming hug. After a while he let his hands fall to his side.

"I don't believe this to be a social call, now is it _brother_?" Sky's voice could tear through metal.

"Indeed you are right, always ready to get down to business aren't you little brother. I had a nice little chit chat with your pet here, she seems to think you're her boyfriend, how did you twist her innocent mind so?"

I felt a blush creep up my neck.

_You said that?_ I could hear him smirking in my mind. Shut up.

"What of it, jealous much?" Sky replied calmly.

"She's pretty I grant you, and I do like them with a bit of fire in their veins, yet like any wild horse she needs to be broken."

Wow, this guy was good; my blood was singing out wanting to shed his blood. Though Sky barely showed it I felt his anger building up.

"What do you want?"

"What is mine, I'm tired of skulking in the shadows of the throne that should be mine."

"It never was yours Isaiah, and it never will be."

"Let's see about that."


End file.
